[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7193-S7195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 387--COMMEMORATING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
WILDERNESS ACT
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:
S. Res. 387
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
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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.
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, as founder of the Senate Wilderness
Caucus, I am submitting a Senate resolution today to commemorate the
40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act of 1964, which was signed into
law on September 3, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson. I thank the
following colleagues for their support as cosponsors: Senator Sununu,
Senator Hagel, Senator Durbin, Senator Boxer, Senator McCain, Senator
Murray, Senator Lugar, Senator Warner, Senator Chafee, Senator Snowe,
and Senator Collins.
The Wilderness Act became law seven years after the first wilderness
bill was introduced by Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota. The
final bill, sponsored by Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, passed
the Senate by a vote of 73-12 on April 9, 1963, and passed the House of
Representatives by a vote of 373-1 on July 30, 1964. The Wilderness Act
of 1964 established a National Wilderness Preservation System ``to
secure for the American people of present and future generations the
benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.'' The law gives
Congress the authority to designate wilderness areas, and directs the
Federal land management agencies to review the lands under their
responsibility for their wilderness potential.
Under the Wilderness Act, wilderness is defined as ``an area of
undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence
which generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces
of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable.''
The creation of a national wilderness system marked an innovation in
the American conservation movement--wilderness would be a place where
our ``management strategy'' would be to leave lands essentially
undeveloped.
The original Wilderness Act established 9.1 million acres of Forest
Service land in 54 wilderness areas. Now, after passage of 102 pieces
of legislation, the wilderness system is comprised of over 104 million
acres in 625 wilderness areas, across 44 States, and administered by
four federal agencies: the Forest Service in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, and the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the National Park Service in the Department of the
Interior.
As we in this body know well, the passage and enactment of the
Wilderness Act was a remarkable accomplishment that required steady,
bipartisan commitment, institutional support, and strong leadership.
The United States Senate was instrumental in shaping this very
important law, and this anniversary gives us the opportunity to
recognize this role.
As a Senator from Wisconsin, I feel a special bond with this issue.
The concept of wilderness is inextricably linked with Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has produced great wilderness thinkers and leaders in the
wilderness movement such as Senator Gaylord Nelson and the writer and
conservationist Aldo Leopold, whose A Sand County Almanac helped to
galvanize the environmental movement. Also notable is Sierra Club
founder John Muir, whose birthday is the day before Earth Day.
Wisconsin also produced Sigurd Olson, one of the founders of the
Wilderness Society.
I am privileged to hold the Senate seat held by Gaylord Nelson, a man
for whom I have the greatest admiration and respect. Though he is a
well-known and widely respected former Senator and former two-term
Governor of Wisconsin, and the founder of Earth Day, some may not be
aware that he is currently devoting his time to the protection of
wilderness by serving as a counselor to the Wilderness Society--an
activity which is quite appropriate for someone who was also a co-
sponsor, along with former Senator Proxmire, of the bill that became
the Wilderness Act.
The testimony at congressional hearings and the discussion of the
bill in the press of the day reveals Wisconsin's crucial role in the
long and continuing American debate about our wild places, and in the
development of the Wilderness Act. The names and ideas of John Muir,
Sigurd Olson, and, especially, Aldo Leopold, appear time and time again
in the legislative history.
Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, chairman of what was then
called the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, stated that his
support of the wilderness system was the direct result of discussions
he had held almost forty years before with Leopold, who was then in the
Southwest with the Forest Service. It was Leopold who, while with the
Forest Service, advocated the creation of a primitive area in the Gila
National Forest in New Mexico in 1923. The Gila Primitive Area formally
became part of the wilderness system when the Wilderness Act became
law.
In a statement in favor of the Wilderness Act in the New York Times,
then-Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall discussed ecology and what
he called ``a land ethic'' and referred to Leopold as the instigator of
the modern wilderness movement. At a Senate hearing in 1961, David
Brower of the Sierra Club went so far as to claim that ``no man who
reads Leopold with an open mind will ever again, with a clear
conscience, be able to step up and testify against the wilderness
bill.'' For others, the ideas of Olson and Muir--particularly the idea
that preserving wilderness is a way for us to better understand our
country's history and the frontier experience--provided a justification
for the wilderness system.
In closing, I would like to remind colleagues of the words of Aldo
Leopold in his 1949 book, A Sand County Almanac. He said, ``The
outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not the
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism.
Only those who know the most about it can appreciate how little is
known about it.'' We still have much to learn, but this anniversary of
the Wilderness Act reminds us how far we have come and how the
commitment to public lands that the Senate and the Congress
demonstrated forty years ago continues to benefit all Americans.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in
cosponsoring this resolution to honor and celebrate the 40th
Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and the contributions of those who
have created a glorious wilderness system throughout the United States
for all Americans to enjoy.
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This anniversary provides a time for personal reflection on what wild
places mean to us as individuals and society as a whole. As I consider
the fact that this July 4 our country will celebrate her 228th year of
independence, I marvel at the great changes she has seen. America has
seen wars, the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the
Technology Age, times of prosperity and times of challenge. With all of
these changes, much of America's landscape has been transformed.
I also think back to America as I knew her as a child and how she has
rapidly grown and changed during my 77 years. I feel indebted to those
whose foresight resulted in the Wilderness Act legislation, and whose
tireless efforts saw this act signed into law. In addition, I recognize
all those who have championed the expansion of the wilderness system
which now encompasses 106,000,000 acres nationwide.
During my 26 years in the U.S. Senate, I have worked to pass three
Virginia wilderness bills through Congress. In fact, I recently
introduced the Virginia Ridge and Valley Wilderness and National Scenic
Areas Act of 2004 which, if passed, would create an additional 29,000
acres of wilderness in southwest Virginia. With 177,214 acres of
wilderness, Virginia's wild and beautiful landscapes will remain
untouched by civilization. Visitors from across America can experience
Virginia's wilderness and enjoy great beauty, solitude, primitive
recreation, and nature in its true form.
I feel very strongly that the Wilderness Act is a vehicle whereby we
can pay tribute to our great country by preserving some of her heritage
and history. Though development, growth and change continue, we will
have pockets of undisturbed lands for solitude, reflection, and
recreation. In these areas we can keep America's natural diversity,
wildlife habitats, and vegetation intact. Through the efforts, passion,
and vision of many, we will leave a natural legacy of wildlands to
future generations of America.
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SENATE RESOLUTION 388--COMMEMORATING THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
FOUNDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Mr. SANTORUM (for himself and Mr. Specter) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 388
Whereas in 1854, the Farmers' High School was founded in
Centre County, Pennsylvania in response to the State
Agricultural Society's interest in establishing an
educational institution to bring general education and modern
farming methods to the farmers of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania;
Whereas in 1855, the Farmers' High School was granted a
permanent charter by the Pennsylvania General Assembly;
Whereas the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862 provided for the
distribution of grants of public lands owned by the Federal
Government to the States for establishing and maintaining
institutions of higher learning;
Whereas in 1863, the Commonwealth accepted a grant of land
provided through such Act, establishing one of the first two
land-grant institutions in the United States, and designated
the Farmers' High School, renamed the Agricultural College of
Pennsylvania, as the Commonwealth's sole land-grant
institution;
Whereas in 1874, the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania
was renamed The Pennsylvania State College and in 1953, such
was renamed The Pennsylvania State University;
Whereas with a current enrollment of 83,000, The
Pennsylvania State University consists of 11 academic
schools, 20 additional campuses located throughout the
Commonwealth, the College of Medicine, The Dickinson School
of Law, and The Pennsylvania College of Technology;
Whereas 1 in every 8 Pennsylvanians with a college degree,
1 in every 720 Americans, 1 in every 50 engineers, and 1 in
every 4 meteorologists are alumni of The Pennsylvania State
University;
Whereas formed in 1870, The Pennsylvania State University
Alumni Association is the largest dues-paying alumni
association in the nation;
Whereas The Pennsylvania State University has the largest
outreach effort in United States higher education, delivering
programs to learners in 87 countries and all 50 States;
Whereas The Pennsylvania State University consistently
ranks in the top 3 universities in terms of SAT scores
received from high school seniors;
Whereas The Pennsylvania State University annually hosts
the largest student-run philanthropic event in the world,
which benefits the Four Diamonds Fund for families with
children being treated for cancer;
Whereas the missions of instruction, research, outreach and
extension continue to be the focus of The Pennsylvania State
University;
Whereas The Pennsylvania State University is renown for the
following: the rechargeable heart pacemaker design, the
heart-assist pump design, 4 astronauts to have flown in space
including the first African-American, and the first
institution to offer an Agriculture degree; and
Whereas The Pennsylvania State University is one of the
most highly regarded research universities in the nation,
with an outreach extension program that reaches nearly 1 out
of 2 Pennsylvanians a year and an undergraduate school of
immense scope and popularity: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate commemorates the 150th
anniversary of the founding of The Pennsylvania State
University and congratulates its faculty, staff, students,
alumni, and friends on the occasion.
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