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<br />WILDERNESS LEGISLATION - THE REAL ISSUES <br /> <br />John B. Barnard, Jr. <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />There are many different forms of wilderness legislation <br />pehding in the 86th Congress. However, the bill that is receiving <br />the most attention is S. Ii 23; introdUced by Senator Humphrey and <br />others. Unfortunately, the current status of S. 1123 is quite confus- <br />ed in that many amendments have been proposed, dealing with many <br />of the real issues raised by the proposal, some of which seem cer- <br />tain to be adopted. Hence, I must, in order to avoid an unduly lengthy <br />discussion, deal with the bill as it was introduced, and without a de- <br />tailed discussion of who's amendments would resolve which of the <br />issues presented. <br /> <br />Before presenting my analysis of the real issues involved <br />in the original version of S. 1123, let's take a look at the cat and <br />see what breed it is. Section 1 says, in summary, that the Congress <br />recognizes that an expanding population is ultimately destined to occupy <br />and modify all areas within the United States, its territories and posses- <br />sions, except those that are designated as wilderness. It says that <br />the preservations of such areas is a good thing and that it provides <br />recreational, scientific, scenic and historical values and promotes <br />health and well being. So, it is declared to be the policy of the Con- <br />gress to secure an adequate system of wi lderness areas and to pro- <br />vide for their protection. The section gives sanction to the preserva- <br />tion as wilderness of all areas now within national ownership and so <br />far undeveloped. <br /> <br />One subsection of Section 1 states that provisions of the mea- <br />sure are within and supplemental to the purposes for which national <br />forests were originally established, and that it is the policy of Con- <br />gress to administer the national forests on a multiple-use basis. <br />Wilderness supporters make a vain attempt by such language as this <br />to make it appear that wilderness use is within the concept of multiple <br />use, but as a matter of fact they are in direct conflict. <br /> <br />One subsection states the emotional appeal of the supporters <br />in these terms: <br /> <br />"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man <br />and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby <br />recognized as an area where the earth and its community <br /> <br />9 <br />