[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDERNESS IN THE STATE OF IDAHO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Idaho [Mr. LaRocco] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaROCCO. Mr. Speaker, I have taken a special order tonight to 
talk about an issue that is very, very important to my district and the 
State of Idaho, and that is natural resources and wilderness. I have 
taken this special order because I would like to talk a little bit to 
my colleagues who are very interested in natural resources out in the 
Rocky Mountain region and particularly my State of Idaho.
  Let me tell my colleagues that I have introduced a wilderness bill, 
and we are going to have a hearing on that bill next week in the Public 
Lands Subcommittee here that would designate 1.3 million acres of 
wilderness in my district out of about 4 million acres of roadless 
lands. I also want to talk about efforts to lock up, in my terminology, 
every acre of roadless lands in the State of Idaho.
  There is a proposal before this House that has actually 48 cosponsors 
called the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act which would take 
very acre of roadless lands in my district in the State of Idaho, and 
in Wyoming and Montana, and put it into wilderness. I think that effort 
is excessive. I think it is radical, and I think it is way out of 
whack, and out of balance.
  I have introduced a bill that would counteract that. Actually I have 
written a bill. I have drafted a bill. But I am not going to formally 
introduce it.
  If I really wanted to have equity and parity between my district, 
say, and the sponsor of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, 
it would go something like this: It would be a bill that would say to 
designate certain lands of the 14th Congressional District of the State 
of New York as wilderness and for other purposes, be it enacted by the 
Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America 
and Congress assembled that this act may be cited as the Wilderness 
Equity Act of 1994, and, Mr. Speaker, what this would do, if I were 
serious about it, not really talking tongue-in-cheek, is that it would 
have the same amount of wilderness in Manhattan and Central Park as I 
have in my district if the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act 
were to be successful and pass, and that would amount to about 6 
million acres.
  I do not know if Central Park ought to be wilderness, but what I do 
know is that not every acre of roadless lands in the State of Idaho 
ought to be wilderness. What I am saying to my colleagues is that the 
people of Idaho can best decide, working hard, looking at these Federal 
lands as components of the National Forest System, can actually make 
the right decisions, make it in a balanced way for the good of the 
country and for the good of our economy and the way of life out in 
Idaho.
  I want to say that I take a balanced approach to this project and 
this issue of natural resources. I have gotten high marks from 
conservation groups. I have also gotten high marks from people who work 
in the woods. I want to take a balanced approach to this.
  I want to say to my colleagues that I am working hard to make sure we 
have that balance, and in my district, for example, Mr. Speaker, the 
largest wilderness in the lower 48 States exists in my district, the 
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. It is a great treasure for 
the Nation, a great treasure of Idahoans, a great treasure for science, 
a great place for habitat, species, biodiversity. We need more 
wilderness. That is why I put my bill in.
  What I am saying to my colleagues from New York, and particularly the 
sponsor of this bill, is let us have a shot at coming up with a 
reasonable proposal out there. And I will not introduce my bill to make 
Central Park and Manhattan wilderness. I have drafted it, and because I 
can offer extraneous materials here in the special orders, I want to 
make it part of the Record so people will understand what I am talking 
about when I say that I want to work hard on these issues in my own 
district.
  I have almost 4 million acres of roadless lands out there in Idaho, 
and my bill would protect 1.3 million acres of it. It does not take all 
of it. That would be unbalanced. That would be radical. That would be 
extreme. It also would be extreme if I took this bill and actually 
introduced it in Congress and told the people of Manhattan and Central 
Park that I want to stop motorized traffic, I want to stop economic 
activities in that part of the world.

                              {time}  1820

  I will not do that. But I sure want to work hard on these issues. So, 
tongue in cheek, I drafted the Wilderness Equity Act of 1994, and I am 
going to make it part of this special order. Then I am going to carry 
on, I am going to roll up my sleeves, and I am going to work hard as a 
member of the Committee on Natural Resources, a very important 
committee to my constituency and the people of Idaho.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, the people of Idaho recreate on the public 
lands, we work on the public lands, we derive economic benefit, but we 
also recognize that that clean water, those trees, those ecosystems are 
part of the laboratories for the United States of America. We hope to 
preserve and protect those and manage the ecosystem correctly. I just 
want the opportunity to represent my constituents out there in the 
State of Idaho, do it right and do it in a balanced way. If people from 
outside our State want to have a hand in it, I hope they will come to 
me and talk to me about it.
  So, with that, I will close out this special order, I will not 
introduce the Wilderness Equity Act of 1994, putting Central Park in 
Manhattan into wilderness, but I just want to make the message that we 
in Idaho can make these decisions ourselves in a balanced way.
  I also want to send a message to my constituents that if we do not 
roll up our sleeves and come up with the right solutions, too, for 
America and for our neighbors in Idaho, somebody outside the Rocky 
Mountain region is going to do it because I know of a bill that has 48 
cosponsors with people outside of my district who want to make those 
decisions for us.

                                H.R. --

       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 ``Wilderness Equity Act of 1994''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) There is a severe imbalance in the designation of 
     wilderness among the various States and Congressional 
     Districts.
       (2) For example, whereas the State of Idaho possesses 5 
     components of the National Wilderness Preservation System 
     which total approximately 3.97 million acres, the State of 
     New York is devoid of any federal land designated as 
     wilderness.
       (3) More specifically, whereas the 1st Congressional 
     District of Idaho has 4 components of wilderness totalling 
     2.81 million acres, the 14th Congressional District of New 
     York has no components, and not a single acre, designated as 
     wilderness.
       (4) Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives 
     (H.R. 2638, entitled the ``Northern Rockies Ecosystem 
     Protection Act of 1993'') would designate an additional 91 
     and 58 components and 7.64 million and 3.59 million acres of 
     wilderness in the State of Idaho and its 1st Congressional 
     District, respectively, while failing to designate any 
     wilderness components or acreage in the State of New York and 
     its 14th Congressional District.
       (5) This critical lack of wilderness in some States and 
     Congressional Districts deprives the citizens of those States 
     and Districts of the recreational, wildlife, ecosystem, 
     spiritual, and aesthetic benefits which such land designation 
     provides.
       (6) It is, therefore, in the public interest to remedy this 
     unfortunate, severe imbalance in wilderness and to designate 
     new components of the National Wilderness Preservation System 
     in those States and Congressional Districts presently 
     deprived thereof.
       (7) To determine the capability for, and expose any 
     impediments to, fulfillment of this goal, the Congress should 
     make an initial selection of one wilderness-deprived 
     Congressional District and designate wilderness therein to 
     match the wilderness designated and proposed for designation 
     in a wilderness-rich Congressional District.

     SEC. 3. WILDERNESS DESIGNATION.

       (a) In furtherance of the purposes of the Wilderness Act 
     (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136) and to provide parity with the 
     wilderness designated and proposed for  designation in the 
     1st Congressional District of Idaho, there are hereby 
     designated 6.4 million acres, or less acres if required by 
     subsection (b)(2) of this section, in the 14th 
     Congressional District of New York as a component of the 
     National Wilderness Preservation System.
       (b)(1) Should the 6.4 million acres designated by 
     subsection (a) of this section be less than the total acreage 
     of the 14th Congressional District, the boundaries of the 
     wilderness component shall be established by the Secretary of 
     Agriculture by drawing a line from the western to the eastern 
     boundary of the District such that the entire 6.4 million 
     acres are enclosed within the boundaries of the District 
     north of such line.
       (2) Should the 6.4 million acres designated by subsection 
     (a) of this section be greater than the total acreage of the 
     14th Congressional District, the entire District shall 
     comprise the wilderness component.

     SEC. 4. WILDERNESS MANAGEMENT.

       (a) The area designated as wilderness by section 3 shall be 
     administered by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance 
     with the applicable provisions of the Wilderness Act, except 
     that any reference in such provisions to the effective date 
     of the Wilderness Act or any similar reference shall be 
     deemed to be a reference to the date of enactment of this 
     Act.
       (b)(1) Except as necessary to meet minimum requirements in 
     connection with the purposes for which the area designated as 
     wilderness by section 3 is administered (including measures 
     required in emergencies involving the health and safety of 
     persons within the area), there shall be no commercial 
     enterprise, no temporary of permanent roads, no use of motor 
     vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of 
     aircraft, no other from of motorized transport, and no 
     structure or installation within such area.
       (2) The State of New York shall use monies apportioned to 
     it from the Highway Trust Fund (26 U.S.C. 9503) to remove, 
     recontour, and revegetate all roads within the boundaries of 
     the area designated as wilderness by section 3. All such 
     roads shall be removed within 3 years of the date of 
     enactment of this Act.
       (c)(1) Any and all claims for the taking of property in 
     contravention of the compensation requirement of the Fifth 
     Amendment to the United States Constitution shall be brought 
     in the United States Court of Federal Claims pursuant to the 
     Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1491.
       (2) Any person who takes any action after March 3, 1994 
     that adversely affects the wilderness characteristics of the 
     area designated as wilderness by section 3 shall not be 
     entitled to compensation pursuant to clause (1) of this 
     subsection.

     SEC. 5. WILDLAND RECOVERY SYSTEM.

       (a) In recognition of the fact that certain lands within 
     the area designated as wilderness, and any other areas of the 
     14th Congressional District of New York if any, not 
     designated as wilderness, by section 3 have been damaged by 
     unwise resource extraction and development activities and 
     practices, and where the productive potential of the lands 
     and waters of those areas has been reduced by development 
     activities, there is hereby established the National Wildland 
     Restoration and Recovery System (hereinafter in this section 
     referred to as the ``Recovery System'').
       (b) Recovery System lands shall be managed so as to restore 
     their vegetative cover and species diversity, stabilize 
     slopes and soils so as to prevent or reduce further erosion, 
     recontour slopes to their original contours, remove barriers 
     to natural fish spawning runs, and generally restore, as much 
     as possible, such lands to their natural condition as existed 
     prior to their entry and development.
       (c) The area designated as wilderness, and other areas of 
     the 14th Congressional District of New York, if any, not 
     designated as wilderness, by section 3 shall be components of 
     the Recovery System.
       (d) The Secretary of Agriculture shall be responsible for 
     the development of wildland recovery plans for components of 
     the Recovery System, which plans shall detail necessary work 
     and funding requirements needed to implement management 
     direction established under subsection (b) of this Section.

     SEC. 6. NATIVE AMERICAN USES.

       (a) In recognition of the past use by Native Americans for 
     traditional cultural and religious purposes of portions of 
     the areas designated as components of the National Wilderness 
     Preservation System and National Wildland Recovery and 
     Restoration System by sections 3 and 5, the Secretary of 
     Agriculture shall assure nonexclusive access to those areas 
     by native people for such traditional cultural and religious 
     purposes. Such access shall be consistent with the purpose 
     and intent of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 
     August 11, 1978 (42 U.S.C. 1996). The Secretary, in 
     accordance with such Act, upon request of an Indian tribe, 
     may from time-to-time temporarily close to the general public 
     use of one or more specific portions of those areas in order 
     to protect the privacy of religious activities and cultural 
     uses in such portion by an Indian people. In preparation of 
     the general management plans, the Secretary shall request 
     that the chief executive officers of appropriate Indian 
     tribes make recommendations on assuring access to important 
     sites, enhancing the privacy of traditional cultural and 
     religious activities, and protective cultural and religious 
     sites.
       (b) The Secretary of Agriculture shall enter into 
     cooperative management agreements with the appropriate Indian 
     tribes to assure protection of religious, burial, and 
     gathering sites, and shall work cooperatively on the 
     management of all uses that impact Indian lands and people in 
     the areas designated by sections 3 and 5.

     SEC. 7. WILDERNESS RELEASE.

       All other areas of the 14th Congressional District of New 
     York, if any, not designated as wilderness by section 3 need 
     not be managed for the purpose of protecting their 
     suitability for wilderness designation prior to or during the 
     next study of their wilderness suitability, which shall be 
     conducted by the Secretary of Agriculture not later than 
     fifteen years, or earlier than ten years, from the date of 
     enactment of this Act.

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