[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.
                                 <all>