Section 1. This Act may be cited as the "Wilderness Act" (I 6 U.S.C. 1 1 21 (note)).
Section 2. (a) In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify, all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. For this purpose there is hereby established a National Wilderness Preservation System to be composed of federally owned areas designated by Congress as "wilderness areas", and these shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so so to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness; and no Federal lands shall be designated as "wilderness areas" except as provided for in this Act or by a subsequent Act.
(b) The inclusion of an area in the National Wilderness Preservation System notwithstanding, the area shall continue to be managed by the Department and agency having jurisdiction thereover immediately before its inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System unless otherwise provided by Act of Congress. No appropriation shall be available for the payment of expenses or salaries for the administration of the National Wilderness Preservation System as a separate unit nor shall any appropriations be available for addition personnel stated as being required solely for the purpose of managing or administering areas solely because they are included within the National Wilderness Preservation System.
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture shall, within ten years after the enactment of this Act, review, as to its suitability or nonsuitability for preservation as wilderness, each area in the national forests classified on the effective date of this Act by the Secretary of Agriculture or the Chief of the Forest Service as "primitive" and report his finding to the President. The President shall advise the United States Senate and House of Representatives of his recommendations with respect to the designation as "wilderness" or other reclassification of each area on which review has been completed, together with maps and a definition of boundaries. Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third of all the areas now classified as "primitive" within three years after the enactment of this Act, not less than two-thirds within seven years after the enactment of this Act, and the remaining areas within ten years after the enactment of this Act. Each recommendation of the President for designation as "wilderness" shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of Congress. Areas classified as "primitive" on the effective date of this Act shall continue to be administered under the rules and regulations affecting such areas on the effective date of this Act until Congress has determined otherwise. Any such area may be increased in size by the President at the time he submits his recommendations the Congress by not more than five thousand acres with no more than one thousand two hundred and eighty acres of such increase in any one compact unit; if it proposed to increase the size of any area by more than five thousand acres or by more than one thousand two hundred and eighty acres in any one compact unit the increase in size shall not become effective until acted upon by Congress. Nothing herein contained shall limit the President in proposing, as part of his recommendations to Congress, the alteration of existing boundaries of primitive areas or recommending the addition of any contiguous area of national forest lands predominately of wilderness value. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture may complete his review and delete such area as may be necessary, but not to exceed seven thousand acres, from the southern tip of the Gore Range-Eagles Nest Primitive Area, Colorado, if the Secretary determines that such action is in the public interest.
(c) Within ten years after the effective date of this Act the Secretary of the Interior shall review every roadless area of five thousand contiguous acres or more in the national parks, monuments and other units of the national park system and every such areas of, and every roadless island within, the national wildlife refuges and game ranges, under his jurisdiction on the effective date of this Act and shall report to the President his recommendation as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each such area or island for preservation as wilderness. The President shall advise the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of his recommendation with respect to the designation as wilderness of each such area or island on which review has been completed, together with a map thereof and a definition of its boundaries. Such advice shall be given with respect to not less than one-third of the areas and islands to be reviewed under this subsection within three years after enactment of this Act, not less than two-thirds within seven years of enactment of this Act, and the remainder within ten years of enactment of this Act. A recommendation of the President for designation as wilderness shall become effective only if so provided by an Act of Congress. Nothing contained herein shall, by implication or otherwise, be construed to lessen the present statutory authority of the Secretary of the Interior with respect to the maintenance of roadless areas within the national park system.
(d)(1) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary
of the Interior shall, prior to submitting any recommendations to the President
with respect to the suitability of any area for preservation as wilderness-
(A) give such public notice of the proposed
action as they deem appropriate, including publication in the Federal Register
and in a newspaper having general circulation in the area or areas in the
vicinity of the affected land;
(B) hold a public hearing or hearings at
a location or locations convenient to the areas affected. The hearings
shall be announced through such means as the respective Secretaries involved
deem appropriate, including notices in the Federal Register and in newspapers
of general circulation in the area: Provided, That if the lands involved
are located in more than one State, at least one hearing shall be held
in each State in which a portion of the land lies;
(C) at least thirty days before the date
of a hearing advise the Governor of the State and the governing board of
each county, or in Alaska the borough, in which the lands are located,
and Federal departments and agencies concerned, and invite such officials
and Federal agencies to submits their views on the proposed action at the
hearing or by no later than thirty days following the date of the hearing.
(2) Any views submitted to the appropriate Secretary
under the provisions of (1) of this subsection with respect to any area
shall be included with any recommendations to the President and to Congress
with respect to such area.
(e) Any modification of adjustment of boundaries of any wilderness area shall be recommended by the appropriate Secretary after public notice of such proposal and public hearing or hearings as provided by in subsection (d) of this section. The proposed modification or adjustment shall then be recommended with map and description thereof to the President. The President shall advise the United States Senate and the House of Representatives of his recommendations with respect to such modification or adjustment and such recommendation shall become effective only in the same manner as provided for in subsections (b) and (c) of this section. (16 U.S.C. 1132)
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, each agency administering any area designated as wilderness shall be responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area and shall so administer such area for such other purposes for which it may have been established as also to preserve its wilderness character. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, wilderness areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.
(d) The following special provisions are hereby made:
(1) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act the
use of aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become established,
may be permitted to continue subject to such restriction as the Secretary
of Agriculture deems desirable. In addition, such measures may be taken
as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject
to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.
(2) Nothing in this Act shall prevent within national
forest wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, for the purpose
of gathering information about mineral or other resources, if such activity
is carried on in a manner compatible with the preservation of the wilderness
environment. Furthermore, in accordance with such program as the Secretary
of the Interior shall develop and conduct in consultation with the Secretary
of Agriculture, such areas shall be surveyed on a planned, recurring basis
consistent with the concept of wilderness preservation by the Geological
Survey and the Bureau of mines to determine the mineral values, in any,
that may be present; and the results of such surveys shall be made available
to the public and submitted to the President and Congress.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act,
until midnight December 31, 1983, the United State mining laws and all
laws pertaining to mineral leasing shall, to the same extent as applicable
prior to the effective date of this Act, extend to those national forest
lands designated by this Act as "wilderness area"; subject, however, to
such reasonable regulations governing ingress and egress as may be prescribed
by the Secretary of Agriculture consistent with the use of the land for
mineral location and development and exploration, drilling, and production,
and use of land for transmission lines, waterlines, telephone lines, or
facilities necessary in exploring, drilling, producing, mining, and processing
operations, including where essential the use of mechanized ground or air
equipment and restoration as near as practicable of the surface of the
land disturbed in performing prospecting, location, and in oil and gas
leasing, discovery work, exploration, drilling, and production, as soon
as they have served their purpose. Mining locations lying within the boundaries
of said wilderness areas shall be held and used solely for mining or processing
operations and uses reasonable incident thereto; and hereafter, subject
to valid existing rights, all patents issued under the mining laws of the
United States affecting national forest lands designated by this Act as
wilderness areas shall convey title to the mineral deposits within the
claim, together with the right to cut and use so much of the mature timber
therefrom as may be needed in the extraction, removal, and beneficiation
of the mineral deposits, if needed timber is not otherwise reasonable available,
and if the timber is not otherwise reasonable available, and if the timber
is cut under sound principles of forest management as defined by the national
forest rules and regulations, but each such patent shall reserve to the
United States all title in or to the surface of the lands and products
there of, and no use of the surface of the claim or the resources therefrom
not reasonably required for carrying on mining or prospecting shall be
allowed except as otherwise expressly provided in the Act: Provided, That
unless hereafter specifically authorized, no patent within wilderness areas
designated by this Act shall issue after December 31, 1983, except for
the valid claims existing on or before December 31, 1983. Mining claims
located after the effective date of this Act within the boundaries of wilderness
areas designated by this Act shall create no rights in excess of those
rights which may be patented under the provisions of this subsection. Mineral
leases, permits, and licenses covering lands within national forest wilderness
areas designated by this Act shall contain such reasonable stipulations
as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture for the protection
of the wilderness character of the land consistent with the use of the
land for the purposes for which they are leased, permitted, or licensed.
Subject to valid rights then existing, effective January 1, 1984, the minerals
in lands designated by this Act as wilderness areas are withdrawn from
all forms of appropriation under the mining laws and from disposition under
all laws pertaining to mineral leasing and all amendments thereto.
(4) Within wilderness areas in the national forests designated
by this Act, (1) the President may, within a specific area and in accordance
with such regulations as he may deem desirable, authorize prospecting for
water resources, the establishment and maintenance of reservoirs, water-conservation
works, power projects, transmission lines, and other facilities needed
in the public interest, including the road construction and maintenance
essential to development and use thereof, upon his determination that such
use or uses in the specific area will better serve the interests of the
United States and the people thereof than will its denial; and (2) the
grazing of livestock, where established prior to the effective date of
this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations
as are deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture.
(5) Commercial services may be performed within the wilderness
areas designated by this Act to the extent necessary for activities which
are proper for realizing the recreational or other wilderness purposes
of the areas.
(6) Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express or
implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to exemption
from State water laws.
(7) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting
the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect
to wildlife and fish in the national forests (16 U.S.C. 1133)
(b) In any case where valid mining claims or other valid occupancies are wholly within a designated national forest wilderness area, the Secretary of Agriculture shall, by reasonable regulations consistent with the preservation of the area of wilderness, permit ingress and egress to such surrounded areas by means which have been or are being customarily enjoyed with respect to other such areas similarly situated.
(c) Subject to the appropriation of funds by Congress, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to acquire privately owned land within the perimeter of any area designated by this Act as wilderness if (1) the owner concurs in such acquisition or (2) the acquisition is specifically authorized by Congress (16 U.S.C. 1134)
(b) The Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept private contributions and gifts to be used to further the purposes of this Act. (16 U.S.C. 1135)
Legislative History: House Reports: No 1538 accompanying H.R. 9070 (Committee on Interior & Insular Affairs) and No. 1829 (Committee of Conference). Senate report: No. 109 (Committee on Interior & Insular Affairs). Congressional Record: Vol. 109 (1963): April 4, 8, considered in Senate. April 9, considered and passed Senate. Vol. 110 (1964): July 28, considered in House. July 30, considered and passed House, amended, in lieu of H.R. 9070 August 20, House and Senate agreed to conference report.