Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978 Public Law 95–237, as amended Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978 237 117–328 Statute Compilation United States House of Representatives Office of the Legislative Counsel text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. GPO Statute Compilations USLM converter, version 20210527.1 2023-02-17 Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978 16742 95 1978-02-24 Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978 [(Public Law 95–237)] [As Amended Through P.L. 117–328, Enacted December 29, 2022] [Currency: This publication is a compilation of the text of Public Law 95–237. It was last amended by the public law listed in the As Amended Through note above and below at the bottom of each page of the pdf version and reflects current law through the date of the enactment of the public law listed at https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/comps/] [Note: While this publication does not represent an official version of any Federal statute, substantial efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of its contents. The official version of Federal law is found in the United States Statutes at Large and in the United States Code. The legal effect to be given to the Statutes at Large and the United States Code is established by statute (1 U.S.C. 112, 204).]
AN ACTTo designate certain endangered public lands for preservation as wilderness, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act may be cited as the “Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978”.
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DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS AREAS Sec. 2. [16 U.S.C. 1132 note] In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act, the following lands (hereinafter referred to as “wilderness areas”), as generally depicted on maps appropriately referenced, dated January 1978, are hereby designated as wilderness and, therefore, as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System— (a) certain lands in the Coronado National Forest, Arizona, which comprise about fifty-six thousand four hundred and thirty acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Pusch Ridge Wilderness Area-Proposed”, and shall be known as the Pusch Ridge Wilderness; (b) certain lands in the Inyo and Sequoia National Forests California, which comprise about three hundred and six thousand acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Golden Trout Wilderness Area-Proposed”, and shall be known as the Golden Trout Wilderness; (c) certain lands in and adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest, California, which comprise about twenty-one thousand two hundred and fifty acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Santa Lucia Wilderness Area-Proposed”, and shall be known as the Santa Lucia Wilderness: Provided, That the tract identified on said map as “Wilderness Reserve” is designated as wilderness, subject only to the removal of the existing and temporary nonconforming improvement, at which time the Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”) is directed to publish notice thereof in the Federal Register. Pending such notice, and subject only to the maintenance of the existing nonconforming improvement, said tract shall be managed as wilderness in accordance with section 5 of this Act. In order to guarantee the continued viability of the Santa Lucia watershed and to insure the continued health and safety of the communities serviced by such watershed, the management plan for the Santa Lucia area to be prepared following designation as wilderness shall authorize the Forest Service to take whatever appropriate actions are necessary for fire prevention and watershed protection including, but not limited to, acceptable fire presuppression and fire suppression measures and techniques. Any special provisions contained in the management plan for the Santa Lucia Wilderness area shall be incorporated in the planning for the Los Padres National Forest: Provided, That the Forest Service is authorized to continue fire presuppression, fire suppression measures and techniques, and watershed maintenance pending completion of the management plan for the Santa Lucia area; (d) certain lands in the Los Padres National Forest, California, which comprise about sixty-one thousand acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Ventana Wilderness Additions—Proposed”, and which are hereby incorporated in, and shall be deemed to be a part of, the Ventana Wilderness as designated by Public Law 91-58. In order to guarantee the continued viability of the Ventana watershed and to insure the continued health and safety of the communities serviced by such watershed, the management plan for the Ventana area to be prepared following designation as wilderness shall authorize the Forest Service to take whatever appropriate actions are necessary for fire prevention and watershed protection including, but not limited to, acceptable fire presuppression and fire suppression measures and techniques. Any special provisions contained in the management plan for the Ventana Wilderness area shall be incorporated in the planning for the Ids Padres National Forest; (e) ) certain lands in the White River National Forest, Colorado which comprise approximately seventy-four thousand four hundred and fifty acres, are generally depicted as area “A” on a map entitled “Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area--Proposed”, and shall be known as the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness. The area commonly known as the “Spruce Creek Addition”, depicted as area “B” on said map and comprising approximately eight thousand acres, shall, in accordance with the provisions of subsection 3(d) of the Wilderness Act, be reviewed by the Secretary as to its suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as wilderness. The Secretary shall complete his review and report his findings to the President and the President shall submit to the United States Senate and the House of Representatives his recommendation with respect to the designation of the Spruce Creek area as wilderness not later than two years from the date of enactment of this Act. Subject to valid existing rights, the wilderness study area designated by this subsection shall, until Congress determines otherwise, be administered by the Secretary so as to maintain presently existing wilderness character and potential for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. No right, or claim of right, to the diversion and use of the waters of Hunter Creek. the Fryingpan or Roaring Fork Rivers, or any tributaries of said creeks or rivers, by the F'ryingpan-Arkansas Project, Public Law 87-590, Eighty-seventh Congress, and the reauthorization thereof by Public Law 93-493, Ninety-third Congress, under the laws of the State of Colorado, shall be prejudiced, expanded, diminished, altered, or affected by this Act. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to expand, abate, impair, impede, or interfere with the construction, maintenance, or repair of said Fryingpan-Arkansas Project facilities, nor the operation thereof, pursuant to the Operating Principles, House Document Numbered 130, Eighty-seventh Congress, and pursuant to the water laws of the State of Colorado; (f) certain lands in the Cibola National Forest, New Mexico, which comprise about thirty-seven thousand acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Manzano Mountain Wilderness Area-Proposed”, and shall be known as the Manzano Mountain Wilderness; (g) certain lands in Cibola National Forest, New Mexico, which comprise about thirty thousand nine hundred and thirty acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Sandia Mountain Wilderness Area (North and South Units)-Proposed”, and shall be known as the Sandia Mountain Wilderness; (h) certain lands in the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests, New Mexico, which comprise approximately fifty thousand three hundred acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Chama River Canyon Wilderness Area—Proposed”, and shall be known as the Chama River Canyon Wilderness; (i) certain lands in Wasatch and Unita National Forests, Utah, which comprise about twenty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-seven acres, are generally depicted on a map entitled “Lone Peak Wilderness Area—Proposed”, and shall be known as the Lone Peak Wilderness: Provided, That the Forest Service is directed to utilize whatever sanitary facilities are necessary (including but not limited to vault toilets, which may require service by helicopter) to insure the continued health and safety of the communities serviced by the Lone Peak watershed; furthermore, nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit motorized access and road maintenance by local municipalities for those minimum maintenance activities necessary to guarantee the continued viability of whatsoever watershed facilities currently exist, or which may be necessary in the future to prevent the degradation of the water supply in the Lone Peak area; (j) certain lands in the Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, which comprise about fourteen thousand nine hundred and forty acres, are generally depicted a map entitled “Savage Run Wilderness Area—Proposed”, and shall be known as theSavage Run Wilderness; (k) certain lands in Lolo National Forest, Montana, which comprise approximately twentv-eight thousand four hundred and forty acres are generally depicted on a map entitled “Welcome Creek Wilderness Area—Proposed”, and shall be known as theWelcome Creek Wilderness; and (l) certain lands in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah, which comprise approximately 107.9 acres as generally depicted on a map entitled the “Bonneville Shoreline Trail Legislative Map”, dated July 9, 2020, are hereby removed from the Lone Peak Wilderness Area designated under subsection (i).
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