tion under this bill will be far better preserved if we allow them to be managed by the U.S. Forest Service who are professionals at this business rather than restricting these lands as wilderness to be enjoyed by a hardy few and sùsceptible to wild fire, insect damage, and no chance to yield additional real values to our hardpressed Federal revenues. I believe that a vote against this bill would be a service to our country. Yours truly, W. H. WILLIAMS. NEW ORLEANS, November 16, 1961. Representative GRACIE PFOST, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MRS. PrOST: I understand that your committee is considering Senate bill No. 174 or the so-called wilderness bill. In my opinion, this bill is liable to work great harm and injustice to the citizens if it is allowed to become law. It is my understanding that it is vague and indefinite in its definition of what is wilderness and how much land it is proposed to withdraw from uses that it is now being put to and would be put into a kind of economic deep freeze which would be useful to only a privileged few. In my opinion further the bill violates sound resources management practices and should not be allowed to become law. Very truly yours, Representative GRACIE PFOST, L. KEMPER WILLIAMS, President. SAN LEANDRO, CALIF., October 25, 1961. Chairman of the Subcommittee, Nampa, Idaho DEAR REPRESENTATIVE PFOST: I hope that enough voices will be heard to convince our legislators that our Nation needs wilderness areas preserved for all time. For those of us who love the wild, solitary places, the thought of losing them is not pleasant. If an individual letter can be of value, please accept this one, and add it to what I hope will be many others favoring adequate wilderness legislation. THEODORE H. WILSON, Jr., ATHERTON, CALIF., November 3, 1961. Mr. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: We had planned to attend the meetings in Sacramento but due to illness are unable to. This letter is to put us on the record as favoring the immediate passage of the wilderness bill. Sincerely, Dr. and Mrs. R. WESLEY WRIGHT. PORTLAND, OREG., October 1961. HOUSE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C. GENTLEMEN: In behalf of the conservation committee of the Trails Club of Oregon, I am writing to ask that our support of the wilderness bill be incorporated into the printed record. The foresight to preserve these areas for posterity is an immediate necessity. Once these areas are despoiled by pressure groups, they can never be preserved for future generations. We therefore urge your favorable recommendation of this bill. Sincerely, GLADYS WRIGHT. STATEMENT OF HOWARD ZAHNISER, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY AND EDITOR OF THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY It is a pleasure and an inspiration again to be in California at a wilderness hearing, this time as an observer for the Wilderness Society. I have been credited with being the only individual to have read all of the printed testimony from all of the hearings that have been conducted by the Senate committee handling wilderness legislation for that body. I hope not, for all of the testimony that I have read has been interesting and helpful to me, as I deem it would be to others. Especially has it been a help and inspiration to me to have had the privilege of attending all of the Senate committee's hearings, and now to have witnessed the hearings in McCall, Idaho, and Montrose, Colo., by this distinguished subcommittee and its gracious chairman. Here again I am happy merely to be present, simply to file this statement paying my respects and expressing thus my appreciation at being here and my eagerness to be of any possible help. It is the purpose of the Wilderness Society to see developed an enduring national policy and program that will integrate wilderness preservation and wise use into an overall policy and program in which all other public purposes are likewise soundly served. To this end it is especially importan' that the whole public be aroused to its interests and possibilities, and accordingly such hearings as those in this current series are of matchless value. I should not like to miss any such occasion, and it is especially good, as I said before, to be again in California. As to my own remarks in any detail in behalf of the Wilderness Society or other organizations I look forward to the later opportunity to testify at the hearings in Washington, D.C. Hon. GRACIE PFOST, Nampa, Idaho. PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIF., November 10, 1961. DEAR MADAM: It is my understanding that the Subcommittee on Public Lands of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee has scheduled several field hearings on the wilderness bill (S. 174). Unfortunately I find I cannot attend these hearings. However, I strongly feel this bill to be a very significant step forward in establishing a National Wilderness Preservation System. I have written my Congressman, the Honorable Alphonzo Bell, requesting his assistance in getting this measure reported favorably and promptly by your subcommittee. As a stanch supporter of the need for quickly taking steps to preserve wilderness areas, I urge prompt favorable action by your subcommittee and the House on the wilderness bill. Sincerely yours, R. F. ZEMER. PEACE DALE, R.I., October 18, 1961. THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS, GENTLEMEN: I am writing to urge support of S. 174 and other bills to establish a national wilderness preservation system for the permanent good of all of the people of the United States of America. I write as a teacher in the University of Rhode Island, a land-grant institution, as a citizen in the most densely populated State in the Union, and as a member of the Rhode Island Wildlife Federation, an organization devoted to the conservation education of the people and the solution of the conservation problems of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It is quite obvious to me that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, is destined to occupy and modify all areas within the United States except those that are designed for preservation and protection in their natural condition. The solution of this problem lies in the securing for the American people of present and of future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. The national wilderness system to be established should be composed of federally owned areas in the United States to 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 as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dis semination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness. The wilderness system should thus be devoted to the public purposes of recreation, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use. If properly activated, all such use should be in harmony both in kind and degree with the wilderness environment. I believe that this bill, if passed, will preserve this resource without taxing any other in the foreseeable future because presently available wildernesses within our national forests, parks, refuges, ranges, and other areas dedicated to different kinds of conservation purposes have areas that can be preserved as such without interference with the other purposes which the areas now serve. They will take only a relatively small part of our landabout one-fiftieth-or in other terms, about 5 percent of our Federal estate. This legislation, when passed, will establish a policy and program regarding wilderness which will give shape and orderliness to a practical way of dealing with idealism, the sources of our spiritual welfare, and reality, the inheritance of a great outdoor resource. Sincerely yours, DONALD J. ZINN. (A petition submitted to Representative B. F. Sisk, signed by 118 persons was received as follows:) PETITION-SENATE BILL 174, WILDERNESS BILL Congressman B. F. SISK, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.: We respectfully urge that before any area is included in the wilderness system, it must be specifically approved by an act of Congress. In addition, we urge that public hearings be held in the locality of the area proposed to be set aside as a wilderness area before any action is taken by Congress. OCTOBER 27, 1961. Re statement to be presented at the November 6, 1958, hearing on the wilderness bill, Sacramento, Calif. Representative WAYNE ASPINALL, Chairman, House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE ASPINALL: We, as individual citizens, are vitally interested in the preservation of our wilderness areas and would like to bring our views to the attention of your committee. The few remaining wilderness areas in the United Sttaes are of immense value to the people enjoying them directly as well as to the Nation as a whole. Very considerable benefits are derived both from the recreational usage and the educational and scenic aspects of land that has remained relatively untouched by man. These wilderness areas are of course of primary importance in our water and soil conservation programs. With the rapid growth in population, these benefits will become increasingly more important both to us and to future generations. The realization that once gone, the wilderness and its scenic and historical wonders can never be restored, points to the need for the immediate establishment of controls to prevent the unwise or destructive use of these lands. We feel that the wilderness bill offers real hope for a sound conservation program and for the protection of these lands against a variety of special interests. We, therefore, strongly urge you to work toward its enactment into the law. Sincerely yours, Ralph L. Leon, Mission San Jose, Calif.; David S. Bloom, Los Altos LOS ANGELES, CALIF., November 6, 1961. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Chairman, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, DEAR SIR: Those of us who have been fortunate enough for many years t spend our vacations in the magnificent American recreational and wilderness areas, are much disturbed about the extremely rapid deterioration and destruction of many of these areas. When they go, they are gone forever. We therefore hope that all of our legislators and administrators will do everything in their power to strengthen and pass the wilderness bill when Congress reconvenes. Conservationally yours, WM. E. NEUSWANGER. MARGUERITE WAKEFIELD. LUCILE GREGORY. EDNA H. VINZANT. Sorry the other 12 members of our group failed to receive this for their signatures. WM. E. N. HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 174, H.R. 293, H.R. 299, H.R. 496, H.R. 776, H.R. 1762, H.R. 1925, H.R. 2008, and H.R. 8237 BILLS TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRESERVATION SYSTEM FOR THE PERMANENT GOOD OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES |