[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18872]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WILDERNESS ACT

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                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 21, 2004

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month we celebrated the 40th 
Anniversary of an historic piece of legislation, the Wilderness Act, 
which was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 
3, 1964. Since the Act's inception, over 105 million acres of our 
collective natural heritage has been protected under the wilderness 
designation.
  This week, as we take time to recognize the accomplishments of the 
Wilderness Act, we must also recognize the work that has yet to be 
done. Throughout the nation, there are many more wilderness areas that 
have yet to fall under the full protection of the Wilderness Act--
places like the Arctic Coastal Plain, Utah's Redrocks wilderness, and 
the Northern California Coastal wilderness.
  We must continue our efforts to safeguard these existing natural 
habitats from human exploitation and development in order to protect 
threatened and endangered species and to ensure the long-term health 
and vitality of the entire ecosystem.
  And I believe that as a global community, we must quickly recognize 
the dramatic impact that human development has made on our natural 
environment and work to reduce the human footprint that we leave behind 
on the world.

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