January 16, 2009
Weekly News UpdateUS Senate Designates Over 2 Million Acres as Protected Wilderness
On Thursday, January 15, the U.S. Senate voted to protect more than two million acres in nine states by designating the areas as wilderness. This legislation marks one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in 25 years.
Among the protected areas include portions of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California. (Photo credit: Susan Berg)
Land that has been placed under protection includes the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, Mount Hood in Oregon, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, and portions of Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. Other areas that were designated as wilderness include portions of the Owyhee Canyons in Idaho, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan, and Zion National Park in Utah. In addition, over 1000 miles of rivers were also protected.
Land set aside as wilderness is governed by the Wilderness Act of 1964. According to the Wilderness Act, wilderness is referred to as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." Setting aside land as wilderness does not close it off to human use. It only explicitly excludes the use of motorized or mechanical vehicles or equipment within the boundaries of a wilderness area. In 1986, this definition was expanded to include bicycles, which caused some controversy with mountain bicycle enthusiasts. The intent of naming large swathes of land as wilderness is to protect intact ecosystems from human disturbance, thus allowing natural processes to continue without any inhibition.
The bill was a collection of 160 separate bills, packaged together as an omnibus bill. Some of the provisions in the bill have been under discussion for over a year. While many environmentalists lauded its passage, some were dismayed with the inclusion of a provision that will place a road through Alaska's Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. This provision was part of a land swap sponsored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, which would give the state a seven-mile easement through the refuge in exchange for a transfer of over 61,000 acres from the state of Alaska to the federal government. However, much of the exchanged land would in turn by designated as wilderness.
The bill is now in the hands of the House of Representatives, where it is being expedited and is expected to be approved. From there it will be sent to the desk of Barack Obama, soon after his inauguration as President this coming Tuesday.