[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 90 (Thursday, May 23, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3891-S3892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 708--COMMEMORATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                   DESIGNATION OF THE GILA WILDERNESS

  Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Mr. Lujan) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 708

       Whereas on June 3, 1924, the Forest Service set aside 
     755,000 acres as the Gila Wilderness;
       Whereas this was the first designated wilderness in the 
     United States and the world;
       Whereas this designation marked the beginning of a national 
     system of wilderness

[[Page S3892]]

     areas and helped inspire the Wilderness Act of 1964 (16 
     U.S.C. 1131 et seq.);
       Whereas Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee in New 
     Mexico, worked to initiate a Federal wilderness concept in 
     the backcountry of what is now the Gila National Forest;
       Whereas Arthur Carhart, a Forest Service employee, argued 
     that wilderness recreation would help to develop individual 
     and national character;
       Whereas the Apache and Mimbres people have been stewards of 
     this land from time immemorial; and
       Whereas, 100 years later, the character of the Gila 
     Wilderness remains without permanent human-built structures, 
     protected and managed to preserve this condition, and the 
     wilderness remains a place unrestrained by human development: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That Congress commemorates the 100th anniversary 
     of the designation of the Gila Wilderness.

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