An effort to weaken the Wilderness Act of 1964.
Statements of Members:
Chenoweth, Hon. Helen, a U.S. Representative
from Idaho
Grams, Hon. Rod, a U.S. Senator from
Minnesota
Hansen, Hon. James, a U.S. Representative from Utah: (Statement
Follows Immediately)
Kildee, Hon. Dale, a U.S. Representative
from Michigan
Skeen, Hon. Joe, a U.S. Representative from
New Mexico
Vento, Hon. Bruce F., a U.S. Representative
from Minnesota
Statements of witnesses:
Open Roundtable Discussion
Brown, David, Executive Director, American
Outdoors
Indehar, Todd, President,
Conservationists with Common Sense
Knuffke, Darrell, Western Regional
Director, The Wilderness Society
Nickas, George, policy coordinator,
Wilderness Watch
Unser, Bobby, professional race car driver,
Albuquerque, NM
Wallop, Malcolm (former Senator), Chairman,
Frontiers of Freedom Institute, Arlington, VA
The 1964 Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System which ''shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people,'' section 2(a) of the 1964 Wilderness Act. In their zeal to protect and conserve our national heritage, our Federal national land management agencies forget about the fact these lands were set aside for the American people. These areas are not museums where we can only look and not touch. They are for the ''gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness.''
The Federal Government currently manages over 104 million acres of wilderness in this country. Within these vast areas are preserved the greatest and most remote places on this Earth. As a veteran on this committee, I am proud to have played a role in designating millions of these acres in Utah, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, California and many other States. The Wilderness Act and its original intentions continue to be important tools in protecting our Federal lands, but we must remember that people are just as important to this equation.
We will hear testimony today which should amaze the members of this committee. We will hear of people being punished for trying to save their own lives, of property rights being violated, of Boy Scouts being excluded from wilderness areas, of wildlife being allowed to perish and people simply being excluded from the ''use and enjoyment'' of our wilderness areas.
We have a number of witnesses today, and I would like to ask we keep our opening statements brief so we might move on to the witnesses and have an opportunity to explore the many issues before us. I welcome our witnesses and again appreciate the work of Chairman Chenoweth on this hearing and look forward to the testimony.
I will now turn to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, the gentlewoman from Idaho.