[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 18, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3883-S3885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Harkin, 
        Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Bayh, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Wyden, 
        Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Reed, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Boxer, and Mr. 
        Kerry):
  S. 639. 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.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce America's Red 
Rock Wilderness Act. This legislation is in keeping with our Nation's 
bipartisan commitment to preserve our natural heritage. The 
preservation of our Nation's vital natural resources will be one of our 
most important legacies.
  Unfortunately, remaining wilderness areas are increasingly threatened 
and degraded by oil and gas development, mining, claims of rights of 
way, logging and off-road vehicles. America's Red Rock Wilderness Act 
will designate 9.1 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land 
Management, BLM, in Utah as wilderness under the Wilderness Act. 
Wilderness designation will preserve the land's wilderness character, 
along with the values associated with that wilderness--scenic beauty, 
solitude, wildlife, geological features, archaeological sites, and 
other features of scientific, educational, and historical value.
  America's Red Rock Wilderness Act will provide wilderness protection 
for red rock cliffs offering spectacular vistas of rare rock 
formations, canyons and desert lands, important archaeological sites, 
and habitat for rare plant and animal species.
  Volunteers took detailed inventories of thousands of square miles of 
BLM land in Utah to help determine which lands should be protected. 
These volunteers provided extensive documentation to ensure that these 
areas meet federal wilderness criteria.
  The BLM also completed a re-inventory of approximately 6 million 
acres of Federal land in the same area. The results provide a 
convincing confirmation that the areas designated for protection under 
this bill meet Federal wilderness criteria.
  For more than twenty years Utah conservationists have been working to 
add the last great blocks of undeveloped BLM-administered land in Utah 
to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The lands we propose to 
protect surround and connect eight of Utah's nine national park, 
monument and recreation areas. These proposed BLM wilderness areas 
easily equal their neighboring national parklands in scenic beauty, 
opportunities for recreation, and ecological importance. Yet, unlike 
the parks, most of these scenic treasures lack any form of long-term 
protection.
  I'd like to thank all of my colleagues who are original cosponsors of 
this

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measure this year, many of whom have supported the bill since it was 
first introduced. The original cosponsors of the measure are Senators 
Feingold, Leahy, Harkin, Kennedy, Bayh, Cantwell, Corzine, Wyden, 
Stabenow, Reed, Schumer, Boxer, and Kerry. Additionally, I would like 
to thank The Utah Wilderness Coalition, which includes The Wilderness 
Society and Sierra Club; The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; and all 
of the other national, regional and local, hard-working groups who, for 
years, have championed this legislation.
  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.'' Enactment of 
this legislation will help us realize Roosevelt's vision. In order to 
protect these precious resources in Utah for future generations, I urge 
my colleagues to support America's Red Rock Wilderness Act.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am very pleased to again join with the 
Senator from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, as an original co-sponsor of 
legislation to designate more than one million acres of Bureau of Land 
Management, BLM, lands in Utah as wilderness.
  I had an opportunity to travel twice 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 also viewed 
the lands proposed for designation in this bill from a river trip down 
the Colorado River, and in the San Rafael Swell with members of the 
Emery County government.
  I support this legislation, for a few reasons, 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, 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 
encompasses all the BLM lands of wilderness quality in Utah. 
Unfortunately, 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's 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 over the last few years, my constituents 
have 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.''

  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 17 years and five Congresses of effort in the 
other body beginning with the legislative work of our recent deceased 
colleague, 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 
Grand Staircase-Escalante 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 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 cane closely. I believe, 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 
106th 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 eager to work with my colleague from Illinois, Mr. Durbin, to 
protect these lands. I commend him for introducing this measure.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am proud to join my colleagues as a 
cosponsor of the Redrock Wilderness Act. It designates 9.1 million 
acres of Federal public lands in Utah, managed by

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the Bureau of Land Management, as a wilderness area under the 1964 
Wilderness Act. Wilderness designation affords lands an extra level of 
protection--preserving the land in its ``wild'' state for future 
generations.
  I know that citizens all across America, including many in Iowa, have 
enjoyed the wilderness in Redrock. Or some folks may never have visited 
that great place and just want it to be protected because it is so 
precious.
  The redrock canyons of Utah are famous, even to many who have never 
been there. The dramatic cliff walls, sculpted by wind and water into 
swirling crimson towers have been captured in stunning photographs. 
Pink sandstone arches stretch across creek beds and gold-toned crevices 
slice through massive slabs of rock. These are refreshing sights we 
must save for generations to come.
  And we must preserve Redrock for its invaluable wildlife. For 
example, some of Utah's last healthy populations of longhorn antelope 
and bighorn and sheep roam this isolated and majestic desert landscape.
  Thanks to the Bush administration's rush to turn over public land for 
energy production, this unspoiled place is now in grave danger. The 
Interior Department has fast-tracked oil and gas leases and projects, 
opening the door to habitat destruction, road building, and industrial 
pollution. These precious lands should not be the target of energy 
production when we have bountiful sources of renewable energy, 
including sources from agriculture that can also help farmers and rural 
communities.
  At a time when the administration is willfully neglecting our public 
lands by rejecting adequate funding for them, proposing oil and gas 
development in them, and increasing destructive logging practices, we 
need to protect these areas from such assaults.
  Utah's unique Redrock Wilderness area should be designated as 
wilderness and protected from environmentally destructive activity. I 
am proud to be a cosponsor of the Redrock Wilderness Act, and urge my 
colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.
                                 ______