WSP00991 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~x.. : , -'- .......~- rjC;;,785 this land is arid or semi-arid, no serious impact on existing uses should be entailed. I " , Since 1964, however, unanticipated court decisions have greatly confused the picture. The East Meadow Creek decision, upheld by the Supreme Court in 1972, decreed that no road less area next to a national forest primitive area may be developed prior to a Congressional decision on whether or not to incorporate the area in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Following this decision, the Forest Service conducted a far-reaching re- view, identified 1449 road less areas 5000 acres or larger -a total of 56 million acres-and selected 274 of them, 12.3 million acres, as new wilderness study areas. F unher- more, the Chief of the Forest Service ordered that agency plans for any of the road less areas not selected for wilder- ness study-44 million acres-must still consider wilderness as one possible use. Furthermore, environmental impact statements would have to be prepared for each planning unil. ,~ " .; .!' .\ .' : .. '. . '.;' , '.' . .<,~ ~ ': " .'.. ...... '.' . ..:~ . ". All these events have increased the potential size of the wilderness system from the 40 to 50 million acres originally contemplated by Congress to something much larger. Today, 14.4 million acres are in the system. Ex- cluding proposals under the Alaska Native Claims Settle- ment Act, nearly 2S million acres are pending action by Congress; another 24 million acres have been committed to wilderness study by either Congress or the agencies; while nearly 150 million acres of roadless lands remain with opportunities for wilderness as well as other uses. These are agency estimates; environmentalists claim an even greater acreage.l . ;1,. :!;=. j ., I d :1) All this presents us with serious questions about the future use of at least 150 million acres of roadless land that 7