[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 56 (Thursday, April 22, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4110-S4112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Lautenberg, Mrs. 
        Murray, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Torricelli, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Reed, Mrs. 
        Boxer, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Wellstone):
  S. 861. A bill to designate certain Federal land in the State of Utah 
as wilderness, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.


                   AMERICA'S RED ROCK WILDERNESS ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing America's Red Rock 
Wilderness Act to protect an important part of our nation's natural 
heritage. America's Red Rock Wilderness Act

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designates 9.1 million acres of public land in Utah as wilderness.
  Passage of America's Red Rock Wilderness Act is essential to protect 
a national treasure for future generations of Americans. It provides 
wilderness protection for magnificent canyons, red rock cliffs and rock 
formations unlike any on earth. The lands included in this legislation 
contain steep slick rock canyons, high cliffs offering spectacular 
vistas of rare rock formations, desert lands, important archeological 
sites, and habitat for rare plant and animal species.
  The areas designated for wilderness protection in America's Red Rock 
Wilderness Act are based on a detailed inventory of lands managed by 
the Bureau of Land Management conducted by volunteers from the Utah 
Wilderness Coalition. Between 1996 and 1998, UWC volunteers and staff 
surveyed thousands of square miles of BLM land, taking over 50,000 
photos and compiling documentation to ensure that these areas meet 
federal wilderness criteria.
  As a result of this inventory, an additional 3.4 million acres not 
included in earlier Utah wilderness bills have been added to the 
wilderness designations in America's Red Rock Wilderness Act. Most of 
the areas added to the bill are in the remote Great Basin deserts in 
the western portion of the state and the red rock canyons in Southern 
Utah, which had not been included in earlier inventories.
  Recently, BLM completed a re-inventory of approximately 6 million 
acres of federal land which had been proposed for wilderness 
designation in previous wilderness bills. The results provide a 
convincing confirmation of the inventory conducted by UWC volunteers. 
Of the 6 million acres it re-inventoried, BLM found that 5.8 million 
acres qualified for wilderness consideration. Almost all of these lands 
are included in America's Red Rock Wilderness Act.
  Theodore Roosevelt once stated, ``The Nation behaves well if it 
treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the 
next generation increased and not impaired in value.'' Unfortunately, 
these fragile, scenic lands in Utah are threatened by oil, gas and 
mining interests, destructive use by off-road vehicles, increased 
commercial development, and proposals to construct roads, communication 
towers, transmission lines, and dams. We must act now to protect these 
lands for future generations.
  America's Red Rock Wilderness Act is supported by a broad coalition 
of over 150 environmental, conservation, and recreational organizations 
and citizen groups. In independent television and newspaper surveys and 
public hearings on this issue, the citizens of Utah also have expressed 
overwhelming support for a strong wilderness bill.
  Yesterday was John Muir's birthday. He observed that ``Thousands of 
tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out 
that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a 
necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as 
fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.'' 
America's Red Rock Wilderness Act honors his vision.
  The preservation of our nation's vital natural resources will be one 
of our most important legacies. I urge my colleagues to join me as a 
cosponsor of this important bill to protect the America's Red Rock 
Wilderness area in Utah for future generations.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am very pleased to join the Senator 
from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) as an original co-sponsor of legislation to 
designate 9.1 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in 
Utah as wilderness.
  Though this is the second time this particular measure has been 
introduced in this body, this year's legislation has been substantially 
revised. As the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) has already 
described, these revisions have been made on the basis of a citizen-led 
re-inventory of the wilderness quality lands that remain on BLM lands 
in Utah.
  During the April recess I had an opportunity to travel to Utah. I 
viewed firsthand some of the lands that would be designated for 
wilderness under Senator Durbin's bill. I was able to view most of the 
proposed wilderness areas from the air, and was able to enhance my 
understanding through hikes outside of the Zion National Park on the 
Dry Creek Bench wilderness unit contained in this proposal, and inside 
the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to Upper Calf Creek 
Falls.
  I support this legislation, for a few reasons, Mr. President, but 
most of all because I have personally seen what is at stake, and I know 
the marvelous resources that Wisconsinites and all Americans own in the 
BLM lands of Southern Utah.
  Second, Mr. President, I support this legislation because I believe 
it sets the broadest and boldest mark for the lands that should be 
protected in Southern Utah. I believe that when the Senate considers 
wilderness legislation it ought to know, as a benchmark, the full 
measure of those lands which are deserving of wilderness protection. 
This bill encompases all the BLM lands of wilderness quality in Utah. 
Unfortunately, Mr. President, the Senate has not, as we do today, 
always had the benefit of considering wilderness designations for all 
of the deserving lands in Southern Utah. During the 104th Congress, I 
joined with the former Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Bradley) in 
opposing that Congress' Omnibus Parks legislation. It contained 
provisions, which were eventually removed, that many in my home state 
of Wisconsin believed not only designated as wilderness too little of 
the Bureau of Land Management's holding in Utah deserving of such 
protection, but also substantively changed the protections afforded 
designated lands under the Wilderness Act of 1964.
  The lands of Southern Utah are very special to the people of 
Wisconsin. In writing to me last Congress, my constituents described 
these lands as places of solitude, special family moments, and 
incredible beauty. In December 1997, Ron Raunikar of the Capital Times, 
a paper in Madison, WI, wrote:

       Other remaining wilderness in the U.S. is at first 
     daunting, but then endearing and always a treasure for all 
     Americans.
       The sensually sculpted slickrock of the Colorado Plateau 
     and windswept crag lines of the Great Basin include some of 
     the last of our country's wilderness which is not fully 
     protected.
       We must ask our elected officials to redress this 
     circumstance, by enacting legislation which would protect 
     those national lands within the boundaries of Utah.
       This wilderness is a treasure we can lose only once or a 
     legacy we can be forever proud to bestow to our children.

  Some may say, Mr. President, that this legislation is unnecessary and 
Utah already has the ``monument'' that Wallace Stegner wrote about, 
designated by President Clinton on September 18, 1997. However, it is 
important to note, the land of the Grand Staircase Escalante National 
Monument comprises only about one tenth of the lands that will be 
granted wilderness protection under this bill.
  I supported the President's actions to designate the Grand Staircase 
Escalante National Monument. On September 17, 1997, amid reports of the 
pending designation, I wrote a letter to President Clinton to support 
that action which was co-signed by six other members of the Senate. 
That letter concluded with the following statement ``We remain 
interested in working with the Administration on appropriate 
legislation to evaluate and protect the full extent of public lands in 
Utah that meet the criteria of the 1964 Wilderness Act.''
  I believe that the measure being introduced today will accomplish 
that goal. Identical in its designations to legislation sponsored in 
the other body by Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York, it is the 
culmination of more than 15 years and four Congresses of effort in the 
other body beginning with the legislative work of the former 
Congressman from Utah (Mr. Owens).
  The measure protects wild lands that really are not done justice by 
any description in words. In my trip I found widely varied and distinct 
terrain, remarkable American resources of red rock cliff walls, desert, 
canyons and gorges which encompass the canyon country of the Colorado 
Plateau, the Mojave Desert and portions of the Great Basin. The lands 
also include mountain ranges in western Utah, and stark areas like the 
new National Monument. These regions appeal to all types of American 
outdoor interests from hikers and sightseers to hunters.
  Phil Haslanger of the Capital Times, answered an important question I 
am often asked when people want to know why a Senator from Wisconsin 
would

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co-sponsor legislation to protect lands in Utah. He wrote on September 
13, 1995 simply that ``These are not scenes that you could see in 
Wisconsin. That's part of what makes them special.'' He continues, and 
adds what I think is an even more important reason to act to protect 
these lands than the landscape's uniqueness, ``the fight over 
wilderness lands in Utah is a test case of sorts. The anti-
environmental factions in Congress are trying hard to remove 
restrictions on development in some of the nation's most splendid 
areas.''
  Wisconsinites are watching this test case closely. I believe, Mr. 
President, that Wisconsinites view the outcome of this fight to save 
Utah's lands as a sign of where the nation is headed with respect to 
its stewardship of natural resources. For example, some in my home 
state believe that among federal lands that comprise the Apostle 
Islands National Lakeshore and the Nicolet and Chequamegon National 
Forests there are lands that are deserving of wilderness protection. 
These federal properties are incredibly important, and they mean a 
great deal to the people of Wisconsin. Wisconsinites want to know that, 
should additional lands in Wisconsin be brought forward for wilderness 
designation, the type of protection they expect from federal law is 
still available to be extended because it had been properly extended to 
other places of national significance.

  What Haslanger's Capital Times comments make clear is that while some 
in Congress may express concern about creating new wilderness in Utah, 
wilderness, as Wisconsinites know, is not created by legislation. 
Legislation to protect existing wilderness insures that future 
generations may have an experience on public lands equal to that which 
is available today. The action of Congress to preserve wild lands by 
extending the protections of the Wilderness Act of 1964 will publicly 
codify that expectation and promise.
  Third, this legislation has earned my support, and deserves the 
support of others in this body, because all of the acres that will be 
protected under this bill are already public lands held in trust by the 
federal government for the people of the United States. Thus, while 
they are physically located in Utah, their preservation is important to 
the citizens of Wisconsin as it is for other Americans.
  Finally, I support this bill because I believe that there will likely 
be action during this Congress to develop consensus legislation to 
protect the lands contained in this proposal. We all need to be 
involved in helping to forge that consensus in order to ensure the best 
stewardship of that land. As many in this body know, the BLM has 
completed a review of the lands designated in the bill sponsored in the 
last Congress by the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) and adjacent 
areas. BLM has found that 5.8 million acres of lands, slightly more 
than the acreage of the old bill, meet the criteria for wilderness 
protection under the Wilderness Act. While the re-inventory is not a 
formal recommendation to Congress for wilderness designation, it 
suggests that there are and should be more lands in play as the debate 
over wilderness protection in Utah moves forward.
  I am also watching closely the on-going dialogue between Governor 
Leavitt and Secretary Babbitt regarding possible wilderness protection 
for some of the West Desert lands that are contained in this 
legislation, and the formal Section 202 process in which the BLM will 
be engaged in Utah. I hope that the leaders of those efforts will look 
to this legislation as a guide in identifying the areas that need to be 
protected as wilderness.
  I am eager to work with my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Durbin) to 
protect these lands. I commend him for introducing this measure.
                                 ______