CONTENTS Hearing held April 15, 1997 Statements of Members: Chenoweth, Hon. Helen, a U.S. Representative from Idaho Hansen, Hon. James, a U.S. Representative from Utah Vento, Hon. Bruce F., a U.Š. Representative from Minnesota Page 1 Skeen, Hon. Joe, a U.S. Representative from New Mexico 261348 Brown, David, Executive Director, American Outdoors 55 Prepared statement 154 Wilderness Accessibility for People with Disabilities (report) Wilderness areas that have been "undesignated" 129 Barnier, Jo (DOAg): Letter of December 18, 1996, to Friends Jackson, A.G.: Letter of January 24, 1997, to Richard Martin Mackey, Craig W.: Letter of April 12, 1996, to Bob Yearout (NPS) (V) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 1964 WILDERNESS ACT TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 1997 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NA- Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:06 a.m. in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. James V. Hansen (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding. STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES HANSEN, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM UTAH; AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS Mr. HANSEN. The committee will come to order. The Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands and the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health convene this hearing to explore the implementation of the 1964 Wilderness Act, by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. I welcome Chairman Chenoweth and appreciate her work on this issue and look forward to the testimony today. The 1964 Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System which "shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people," section 2(a) of the 1964 Wilderness Act. In their zeal to protect and conserve our national heritage, our Federal national land management agencies forget about the fact these lands were set aside for the American people. These areas are not museums where we can only look and not touch. They are for the "gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness." The Federal Government currently manages over 104 million acres of wilderness in this country. Within these vast areas are preserved the greatest and most remote places on this Earth. As a veteran on this committee, I am proud to have played a role in designating millions of these acres in Utah, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, California and many other States. The Wilderness Act and its original intentions continue to be important tools in protecting our Federal lands, but we must remember that people are just as important to this equation. We will hear testimony today which should amaze the members of this committee. We will hear of people being punished for trying to save their own lives, of property rights being violated, of Boy Scouts being excluded from wilderness areas, of wildlife being al (1) lowed to perish and people simply being excluded from the "use and enjoyment" of our wilderness areas. We have a number of witnesses today, and I would like to ask we keep our opening statements brief so we might move on to the witnesses and have an opportunity to explore the many issues before us. I welcome our witnesses and again appreciate the work of Chairman Chenoweth on this hearing and look forward to the testi mony. I will now turn to the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, the gentlewoman from Idaho. STATEMENT OF HON HELEN CHENOWETH, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM IDAHO; AND CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FOREST AND FOREST HEALTH Mrs. CHENOWETH. Thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman, and I am pleased to be conducting this hearing with Chairman Jim Hansen. I want to thank him for his hard work on this issue and I appreciate having the opportunity to work with him on this hearing. The Wilderness Act of 1964 is one of our principal environmental laws. Quoting from the Act, the purpose of the Wilderness Act is "to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness." Wilderness was created to allow American citizens the ability to enjoy nature in its purest sense. It has been created to ensure that future generations have the same opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the land that we do today. However, several incidents have been brought to the committee's attention that bring into question whether our land management agencies are implementing the Wilderness Act properly. Today, we will have the opportunity to hear testimony from a number of citizens that have been harassed by our land management agencies in wilderness areas. Many of you are familiar with the case of the 14-year-old Boy Scout who was separated from his troop in the Pecos Wilderness area in New Mexico. After a helicopter located the boy, the Forest Service refused to permit the helicopter to land to bring him to safety. And yet, in my State of Idaho, some ranch hands notified the rangers on the Boise National Forest that a gray wolf had been injured about 4 miles inside the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The recovery biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that a helicopter would be needed to transport the wolf to safety. Permission was sought from and granted without question by the Forest Service to allow the helicopter to land and transport the wolf. I do not question the seriousness of the injury of the wolf, but I do question the wisdom of an agency that allows for a helicopter to enter a wilderness area for a wolf, but refuses on the other hand to allow a helicopter to land to bring a young man to safety. As we will hear today, the implementation of the Wilderness Act by our Federal land management agencies is fraught with many similar stories. What happened to common sense? What happened to compassion in our Federal land management agencies? Has the Wilderness Act gone wild? I say that the Act has not, but from the documentation that we have received, the Federal agencies' implementation warrants much attention and continued oversight. It is my intention to introduce legislation that will guarantee that our Federal agencies will act-will not have the ability to harass American citizens that are simply enjoying the beauty of our wilderness areas. Wilderness controversies are not confined to the West. I am particularly interested in hearing the testimony of Kathy StupakThrall of Michigan to learn how the Forest Service interprets the legal term "valid existing rights" and the rights of the State of Michigan to control water within its borders. I believe that as the public begins to understand the inflexible nature of how our Federal agencies implement the Wilderness Act, and as the public begins to learn of the horror stories, some of which we will hear today, we will be able to inject some common sense into the wilderness debate. I want to be clear, I support the goals of the Wilderness Act. Preserving pristine areas for our children is a laudable purpose, but when the Act has been administered in such a way that human life and limb are at risk, I have to question whether we have gone too far. When property is taken without compensation, I have to ask whether that is the intent of the 1964 Act; and when a large segment of our population is unable to access wilderness, I am forced to wonder just why we are blocking off these beautiful lands to so many of our citizens. I am hopeful that this hearing will help answer some of these questions. That being said, I am pleased to be conducting these hearings with Chairman Hansen and want to welcome our wit nesses. I look forward to receiving your testimony. Mr. HANSEN. Thank you. We appreciate the testimony. The gentleman from Michigan, Mr. Kildee, is sitting in for the gentleman from American Samoa, Mr. Faleomavaego, and we will now turn to Mr. Kildee. STATEMENT OF HON DALE E. KILDEE, A U.S. Mr. KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and Madam Chair. Thank you for holding this hearing today. I would first like to welcome all of our witnesses here today who are testifying, particularly Mr. Ted Nugent and Ms. Kathy StupakThrall, both from my home State of Michigan. Mr. Nugent, I would like you to know many members of my staff, along with myself, are big fans of yours; and although our opinion may differ in how to manage our Nation's wilderness areas, we will probably find some areas of agreement, too. I appreciate your deep interest in this issue and your presence here today. I have been a member of the committee for the past 15 years, and in that time, I have always believed we need to manage our public lands in a way that benefits the American people. We live in a country where people have diverse interests, tastes and beliefs; that is why I have always supported the concept of multiple use in the management of our Nation's public lands. I have supported timber harvesting in our national forests. It is important to have the economy and the health of the forest in |