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<br />0019H
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<br />Guest Qpinion
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<br />M. RUPERT CUTLER
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<br />J(ER looki? at wild~mess from bOlh .ides now-from the ,RARE 1.1 can. help "lOllnd out" !he Nalional Forest portion of
<br />perspecave of asSlSlanl execul,ve direclor of The Wi I. me Nallonal Wilderness Preservallon System. We hope to com-
<br />demesa Society, and from my present position as Assist. plele RARE" by the end of 1978.
<br />anI Secretary of Agriculture responsible for Ihe Forest Service Presldenl Carter'&commitmenllo identify piomplly areas to
<br />and other aaencies-I'm convinced that the wilderness issues' be added to the Wilderness Sysrem will allow the Forest Service
<br />that face u~ at! can be ~solved by reasonable people working to move ahead with many aspeets of multiple-use managcment.
<br />together. It s hke elllenng a spectacular canyon from dilT.rent In his environmental message to Congress, the President said "
<br />trails-the inilial perspective may be different, bUI a common "Whe.n the Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1964, it
<br />landscape tIIICfJtS as we move toward the heart of the canyon. eSlabllshed a landmark of American conservation policy. The
<br />Everywhere I look, I see challenges-from industry, from National Wilderness Preservarion System created by this act
<br />loggens, from environmentalists. Perhaps most crucial of all, must be expanded promptly, before the lIlOIl deserving of Fed.
<br />challenaes from Congress, in major legislation such as the Na. eral lands are opened to other u!cs end lost 10 wilderness
<br />1I0nal Forest Management Act and the Forest and Rangeland forever. ..." .'
<br />Renewable Resources Planning ACI, which require long. range RARE \I is a process 10 identiFy the key values of road less and
<br />land.managef!lCnl planning. . undeveloped areas-for wilderness, warer, forage. wildlife.
<br />BUI Ihe Forest Service land. management planning process limber, developed recrearion or any other use or combinalion of
<br />has been deblyed, and orderly allocationofland uses has bogged uses. I ask the Sierra Club and all others interested in the Na-
<br />down. Allhc heart of Ihcsc delays are contlicts over uses of lhe tional Foresls to help identify these key values, then to suggest
<br />Nationall'oR5a. Sooner or later,lhe conflicting demands musl w~ys we can proceed to get the appropriate areas designated
<br />be reconciled. So why not do iltogelher? The present piecemeal WIlderness. Once the roadie.. area question i. resolved, we can
<br />syslem of resolving contlicts by appeal and lawsuit is rime- use our energies 10 solve 'some of the problems of wilderness.
<br />I'On,umin~. ~,,,,,",i,,,, .n~ "",,'i.foct,,,"v, We need to work on management and user conJIicu wilhin the
<br />Wildemess iI the original nalural resou,", yet it is one of,the wilderness. and on mulriple-use managemenl opporlunilies on
<br />mosl recenllo come under special manageinent. Since the first non-wilderness lands in order 10 protect back.counlry
<br />Wilderness was ""t aside in lhe Oila Nalional Fort" in'1924 recrealional opponunitica while providin. for other eXlraclive
<br />contlict over lbe use: of federal lands has become acule. Begin: uses as well.
<br />~mg m Ihe 1960s, Wilderness and many other public land alloca. As I've talked 10 groups across Ihe counlry-whether en-
<br />I,ons have become increasingly entangled in controversy and vironmentalists, induslry representatives or the residenlS of
<br />litigalion. The is..ucs themselves have become obscured, and [(-'''''1 communilies-one queslion recurs: "Why RARE IJ?
<br />the concept of a lIlIIlional ay.rem for any resoun:c has become, al Wi,,,, ha~~ncd to Ihe origilUll RARE, completed in 19731" .
<br />besl, hazy. Th~ ,:,"811lal RAR!> ~ulted in an inventory ofapproximately
<br />The wildemcsa quesrions that still confronl us are lhemost 56 mllhon acres, mamly 10 the Wesl, with wilderness potential.
<br />basic ories: or lhese, 12.3 million were selected for wilderness study. How.
<br />. How mucb wilderness do we need IIOW and ror future gen. ever, some areas in lhe West were overlooked. In addilion lhe
<br />erarions? inventory did nOl direcl attenlion 10 eastern narional fores;. or
<br />.. What sllo\lld be the Narional Forest share of this total? the national gr~sslands. Also, lhe 1973 inventory u5Cd very pure
<br />. How should wilderness be distributed geographically? standards of WIlderness. Today there are indicarions lhal Con-
<br />. What aboul eastern foresls and national grllSSlands-do gress may be willing 10 accept different and more ftexible
<br />. they require special judgments? criteria In the P8Sl four vea.... forexa"'Dle. Conlreu tm. shown
<br />. What criteria should he used ror wilderne.. designations? a parlicular int~ in wilderness lIesiglllllioa for eastern land
<br />. What are lhe trade.offs when We designate land as wilder- recovered From such past uses as fanning, logging or mining.
<br />ness, and how sbould we deal wilh lhese lrade.offs? Many people fccl thaI the "studied" approach is 100 long and
<br />. How do we balance diverse and often diametrically op_ costly. In the thirteen years since lhe Wilderness ACI we've had
<br />noo;;.rd public vie~ on wi MJom" ,', <t? resource j nvenlor1es and a~sments of tJ'ade..offs. . We've had
<br />To help resolve lhese issues wilh the full involvement of all wilderness studies an~ land-management plans. We've had pub~
<br />"publics," I initiated what has become known as RARE II. It is lie mvolvement. environmental slatemenlS and inleragency re-
<br />a new Roadless AI'"..& Review and Evaluation of the National v,ews. The result has been designation of 12.6 million acres of
<br />Forest sysrem. The objective is 10 locale roadie.. and linde- .National Forest wildcrness, or eighty-seven percem oftheentire
<br />veloped areas and delermine which ones deserve 10 be desig- system of 14.4 million acres. There are now pending belore
<br />naled as wilderness, which would be beller putto Olher uses. and Congress se~nteen proposals calling ror the immediale addi-
<br />which may require further study. tlOn of 3.2 million acres of Nalional Forest wilderneaa.
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