[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 387 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 387
Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 22, 2004
Mr. Feingold (for himself, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Durbin, Mrs.
Boxer, Mr. McCain, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Warner, Mr. Chafee, Ms.
Snowe, and Ms. Collins) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
Whereas September 3, 2004, will mark the 40th Anniversary of the enactment of
the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), which gave to the people of
the United States an enduring resource of natural heritage as part of
the National Wilderness Preservation System;
Whereas great American writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau,
George Perkins Marsh, and John Muir joined poets like William Cullen
Bryant, and painters such as Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Frederic
Remington, Albert Bierstadt, and Thomas Moran to define the United
States' distinct cultural value of wild nature and unique concept of
wilderness;
Whereas national leaders such as President Theodore Roosevelt reveled in outdoor
pursuits and sought diligently to preserve those opportunities for
molding individual character, shaping a nation's destiny, striving for
balance, and ensuring the wisest use of natural resources, to provide
the greatest good for the greatest many;
Whereas luminaries in the conservation movement, such as scientist Aldo Leopold,
forester Bob Marshall, writer Howard Zahniser, teacher Sigurd Olson,
biologists Olaus and Adolph Murie, and conservationist David Brower
believed that the people of the United States could have the boldness to
project into the eternity of the future some of the wilderness that has
come from the eternity of the past;
Whereas Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, a Democrat from Minnesota, and
Representative John Saylor, a Republican from Pennsylvania, originally
introduced the legislation with strong bipartisan support in both bodies
of Congress;
Whereas with the help of their colleagues, including cosponsors Gaylord Nelson,
William Proxmire, and Henry ``Scoop'' M. Jackson, and other conservation
allies, including Secretary of Interior Stewart L. Udall and
Representative Morris K. Udall, Senator Humphrey and Representative
Saylor toiled 8 years to secure nearly unanimous passage of the
legislation, 78 to 8 in the Senate, and 373 to 1 in the House of
Representatives;
Whereas critical support in the Senate for the Wilderness Act came from 3
Senators who still serve in the Senate as of 2004: Senator Robert C.
Byrd, Senator Daniel Inouye, and Senator Edward M. Kennedy;
Whereas President John F. Kennedy, who came into office in 1961 with enactment
of wilderness legislation part of his administration's agenda, was
assassinated before he could sign a bill into law;
Whereas 4 wilderness champions, Aldo Leopold, Olaus Murie, Bob Marshall, and
Howard Zahniser, sadly, also passed away before seeing the fruits of
their labors ratified by Congress and sent to the President;
Whereas President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Wilderness Act in the
Rose Garden on September 3, 1964, establishing a system of wilderness
heritage as President Kennedy and the conservation community had so
ardently envisioned and eloquently articulated;
Whereas now, as a consequence of wide popular support, the people of the United
States have a system of places wild and free for the permanent good of
the whole people of this great Nation;
Whereas over the past 40 years the system for protecting an enduring resource of
wilderness has been built upon by subsequent Presidents, successive
leaders of Congress, and experts in the land managing agencies within
the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture;
Whereas today that system is 10 times larger than when first established;
Whereas the Wilderness Act instituted an unambiguous national policy to
recognize the natural heritage of the United States as a resource of
value and to protect that wilderness for future generations to use and
enjoy as previous and current generations have had the opportunity to
do;
Whereas since 1964, when the first 9,000,000 acres of wilderness were included
by Congress, more than 110 additional laws have been passed to build the
National Wilderness Preservation System to its current size of
106,000,000 acres;
Whereas wild places protected in perpetuity can currently be found and enjoyed
in 44 of the Nation's 50 States;
Whereas this wealth of the heritage of the United States can be seen today from
Alaska to Florida in over 650 units, from Fire Island in New York's Long
Island South Shore and Ohio's West Sister Island in Lake Erie, to far
larger Mojave in eastern California and Idaho's River of No Return;
Whereas President Gerald R. Ford stated that the National Wilderness
Preservation System ``serves a basic need of all Americans, even those
who may never visit a wilderness area--the preservation of a vital
element of our natural heritage'' and that, ``wilderness preservation
ensures that a central facet of our Nation can still be realized, not
just remembered''; and
Whereas President Gerald R. Ford has joined with President Jimmy Carter and more
than 100 other prominent United States citizens as honored members of
Americans for Wilderness, a committee formed to celebrate this national
achievement: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) commemorates the 40th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act
(16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.);
(2) recognizes and applauds the extraordinary work of the
individuals and organizations involved in building the National
Wilderness Preservation System; and
(3) is grateful for the tremendous asset the United States
has been able to pass along as a gift to future people of the
United States.
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