1948 (62 Stat. 568), and the Humphrey-Thye-Blatnik-Andresen Act, Public Law 607, Eighty-fourth Congress, June 22, 1956 (70 Stat. 326), as applying to the Superior National Forest or the regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture. Modifications of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area within the Superior National Forest shall be accomplished in the manner provided in section 3(e). (4) Commercial services may be performed within the wilderness system to the extent necessary for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational or other purposes of the system as established in this Act. (5) Any existing use or form of appropriation authorized or provided for in the Executive order or legislation establishing any national wildlife refuge or game range existing on the effective date of this Act may be continued under such authorization or provision. (6) Nothing in this Act shall constitute an express or implied claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to exemption from State water laws. (7) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect to wildlife and fish in the national forests. (8) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent, within national forest and public domain areas included in the wilderness system, any activity, including prospecting, for the purpose of gathering information about mineral or water resources or to prevent the completely subsurface use of such areas, if such activity or subsurface use is carried on, in a manner which is not incompatible with the preservation of the wilderness environment. RECORDS AND REPORTS SEC. 7. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall each maintain, available to the public, records of portions of the wilderness system under his jurisdiction, including maps and legal descriptions, copies of regulations governing them, copies of public notices of, and reports submitted to Congress regarding pending additions, eliminations, or modifications. Within a year following the establishment of any area within the national forests as a part of the wilderness system, the Secretary of Agriculture shall file a map and legal description of such area with the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, and such descriptions shall have the same force and effect as if included in this Act: Provided, however, That correction of clerical and typographical errors in such legal descriptions and maps may be made with the approval of such committees. Within a year following the establishment of any area in the national park system or in a wildlife refuge or range as a part of the wilderness system, the Secretary of the Interior shall file a map and legal description of such area with the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Clerical and typographical errors in such legal descriptions and maps may be corrected with the approval of such committees. Copies of maps and legal descriptions of all areas of the wilderness system within their respective jurisdictions shall be kept available for public inspection in the offices of regional foresters, national forest superintendents, forest rangers, offices of the units of the national park system, wildlife refuge, or range. CONTRIBUTIONS AND GIFTS SEC. 8. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture are each authorized to accept private contributions and gifts to be used to further the purposes of this Act. Any such contributions or gifts shall, for purposes of Federal income, estate, and gift taxes, be considered a contribution or gift to or for the use of the United States for an exclusively public purpose, and may be deducted as such under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, subject to all applicable limitations and restrictions contained therein. LAND USE COMMISSIONS SEC. 9. With respect to any State having more than 90 per centum of its total land area owned by the Federal Government on January 1, 1961, there shall be established for each such State a Presidential Land Use Commission (hereinafter called the Commission). The Commission shall be composed of five persons appointed by the President, not more than three of whom shall be members of the same political party, and at least three of whom shall be residents of the State concerned. The Commission shall advise and consult with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture on the current utilization of federally owned land in such State and shall make recommendations to the appropriate Secretary as to how the federally owned land can best be utilized, developed, protected, and preserved. Any recommendations made to the President by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture and any recommendations made to the Congress by the President pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be accompanied by the recommendations and reports made with respect thereto by the Commission. SEC. 10. At the opening of each session of Congress, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior shall jointly report to the President for transmission to Congress on the status of the wilderness system, including a list and descriptions of the areas in the system, regulations in effect, and other pertinent information, together with any recommendations they may care to make. SEC. 11. Nothing in this Act shall be construed as superseding, modifying, repealing, or otherwise affecting the provisions of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 792-825r). Passed the Senate September 6, 1961. FELTON M. JOHNSTON, Secretary. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., March 17, 1961. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPIN ALL, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, DEAR MR. ASPINALL: Your committee has requested reports on H.R. 293, H.R. 299, H.R. 496, H.R. 776, H.R. 1762, H.R. 1925, and H.R. 2008, all of which relate to the establishment of a national wilderness preservation system. We urge the enactment of this proposed legislation for the establishment of a national wilderness preservation system. We recommend that it be amended in conformance with a similar proposal, S. 174, and our suggested amendments thereon, as set forth in our report of February 24, 1961, copies of which are enclosed. Wilderness resources contain basic values and provide undeniable benefits to the American people. Establishment of a wilderness system is in the public interest and we believe the current proposals recognize equitably the various facets to the problem of wilderness preservation. We believe that many if not all of the objections that have been raised in the past to wilderness proposals are received by the current bills. These proposals would delimit the wilderness system to well-defined areas and would prescribe an orderly method for establishment of the system. Also, these proposals prescribe sound procedures applicable to both executive and legislative branches of the Government in determining the particular areas or parts of Federal reservations to be included in the wilderness system. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that, subject to your consideration of our recommended amendments, the enactment of this proposed legislation would be in accord with the President's program. Sincerely yours, (Attachment.) Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON, JAMES K. CARR, Acting Secretary of the Interior. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., February 24, 1961. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: Your committee has requested a report on S. 174, a bill to establish a national wilderness preservation system for the permanent good of the whole people, and for other purposes. We urge the enactment of this proposal. We suggest hereafter certain minor amendments to the bill that we believe would be desirable. Wilderness resources contain basic values and provide undeniable benefits to the American people. We believe this has been amply demonstrated from the previous hearings of your committee on wilderness proposals. In our opinion, the establishment of a wilderness system, along the lines outlined in this bill, is in the public interest. This proposal recognizes, equitably, the various facets to the problem of wilderness preservation. We believe that it resolves many, if not all, of the objections that have been raised in the past to wilderness proposals. It clearly delimits the wilderness system to well-defined areas and prescribes an orderly method for establishment of the system. It prescribes sound procedures applicable to both the executive and legislative branches of the Government in determining the particular areas or parts of Federal reservations to be included in the wilderness system. The system to be established by this bill would be composed of federally owned lands. Portions of the national park system, wildlife refuges, and game ranges administered by this Department, and portions of the national forests administered by the Department of Agriculture would be included in the system. It should be noted in this connection that the national park system areas, wildlife refuges, and game ranges that we administer would not be included immediately following enactment of the proposal in the wilderness system. Portions of these areas would be selected and included in this system over a 10-year period, in accordance with prescribed procedures set forth in the bill. In the case of the national forest areas, however, there would be included in the wilderness system immediately upon enactment of the legislation, those national forest areas classified by the Department of Agriculture as wilderness, wild, primitive, or canoe. The primitive group of areas, however, would be subject to subsequent review over a 15- year period in order to determine which of these areas should be retained in the system. This One of the major provisions of the bill is contained in section 3 (h). subsection provides that the addition of new wilderness areas to the system or the elimination of the areas from the system that are not specifically provided for by the bill shall be made only after specific authorization by law for such addition or elimination. We believe this requirement is desirable. Section 2 of the bill contains a statement of policy that would express the desire of the Congress to secure for present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. Sections 2 and 6 contain the general provisions that would govern the administration of wilderness areas as well as prescribe the purposes and uses of the system. Significantly, the bill provides that the system shall be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people, in such manner as will leave the system unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide for the protection of the areas, and the preservation of the wilderness character. This provision is very similar to the requirements now applicable, pursuant to the basic National Park Act of 1916 (16 U.S.C. 1-3), to the national park system. On this point we observe that wilderness-type areas constitute an important segment of the national park system and have contributed heavily over the years to the enjoyment by the American people of wilderness values. We believe that section 6 (a) is worthy of special note. This subsection provides that nothing in the act shall be interpreted as interfering with the purposes stated in the establishment of or pertaining to, any park, monument, or other unit of the national park system, or any national forest, wildlife refuge, game range, or other area involved, except that any agency administering any area within the wilderness system shall be responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area and shall so administer such area for such other purposes and also to preserve its wilderness character. This provision, we believe, has the effect of preserving the status quo to the maximum extent in the management of the Federal reservations in question, subject however to the overall requirement that the administering agencies carry out the essential requirements set forth in the bill for wilderness preservation. While the bill prohibits, consistently with wilderness preservation, as prescribed in section 6(b), commercial enterprises within the wilderness system, roads, motor vehicles, motorized equipment, et cetera, it provides in section 6(c) (4) that commercial services may be performed within the wilderness system to the extent necessary for activities which are proper for realizing the recreational or other purposes of the system. In addition to the general provisions relating to administration of the wilderness system, there are specific provisions in the bill that are applicable to na tional forest areas. These provisions would permit certain uses to continue that are already well established within the forest areas in question. Also, certain additional uses may be authorized by the President upon his determination that such use or uses in the specific area will be better serve the interests of the United States and the people thereof than will its denial. In the case of wildlife refuges and game ranges, the bill provides that any existing use or form of appropriation authorized or provided for in the Executive order or legislation establishing such areas and which use exists on the effective date of the act may be continued under such authorization or provision. In this connection, we note that the bill makes no provision for special uses within the national park system. We believe this is appropriate and is consistent with longestablished policies and standards, established by the Congress for administration of that system. There are other provisions that are worthy of mention. Boundary adjustments may be made in wilderness areas in accordance with certain prescribed procedures whereby the appropriate Secretary after public notice and hearing, subsequent recommendations to the President and transmittal of such recommendations to the Congress the boundary adjustment may be accomplished if the Congress makes no objection thereto. We note that in the case of areas of the national park system the bill provides for the inclusion of those areas of more than 5,000 acres where such areas exist without roads. The Secretary would be required to determine what portions of the parks would be required for roads, utilities, et cetera. The bill contains no minimum acreage limitations regarding wildlife refuges and game ranges to be included in the system. We recommend the following amendments to this bill: (1) On page 5, line 7, strike out the word "ten" and insert lieu thereof the word "fifteen." This amendment is suggested in the interest of uniformity. Fifteen years are allowed in the bill for the review of certain national forest areas to determine their suitability for inclusion in the wilderness system. We believe that national park system areas, as well as the wildlife refuges and game ranges, should be governed by the same requirement. (2) On page 6, line 16, beginning with the word "Further" strike out the language in the sentence up to and including the word "area" in line 20, and substitute in lieu thereof: "The purposes of this Act are hereby declared to be within and supplemental to but not in interference with the purposes for which parks, monuments, and other units of the national park system are administered". This amendment is desirable in the interest of clarification. It is in harmony with a similar provision relating to national forests in section 3(b) (2). (3) On page 7, line 10, strike out the word "ten" and insert in lieu thereof the word "fifteen". As previously explained regarding a similar amendment relating to national parks, this amendment is suggested for the purposes of uniformity. If this amendment is adopted, in the interest of promoting further clarification, the next amendment would be desirable. (4) On page 7, line 10, insert a period immediately following the word "Act" and strike out the rest of the sentence beginning with ", and" in line 10 and ending with the word "jurisdiction." in line 16. (5) On page 8, line 10, following the word "shall" insert ", if found to be justified by the Secretary,". (6) On page 9, revise line 8 to read: “(g) Public notice when given by either the Secretary of the". We consider this amendment to be desirable in the interest of clarification. Subsection (g) provides that "The public notice by either the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture that any areas to be proposed under the provisions of this Act for incorporation as part of the wilderness system shall segregate such area from any or all appropriation under the public land laws to the extent deemed necessary by such Secretary." [Italics supplied.] The only requirement for the giving of public notice, however, is contained in subsection (e) concerning modification of boundaries. We believe the language of subsection (g) probably would be limited in application to boundary modifications under subsection (e). On the other hand, it appears that the intent of subsection (g) is to have the provision apply also to new areas. Our amendment is suggested in order to permit the giving of notice, and the segregation of the lands in question from the public land laws pursuant to subsection (g), in the discretion of the particular Secretary. There would be no need to give notice or use the authority under subsection (g) to segregate the lands within the national park system from the public land laws as these areas are already segregated from such laws. (7) On page 9, line 22, following the word "any" insert the word "new". This is a clarifying amendment. (8) On page 10, line 7, strike out the words "privately owned" and insert in lieu thereof the words "non-Federal". This is a clarifying amendment. (9) On page 10, line 25, and on page 11, line 1, strike out the words ", except that any", and insert in lieu thereof ". Each". This amendment is suggested for clarification. So far as the national parks are concerned, the present language indicating that an exception is required to preserve the areas for wilderness purposes is inaccurate. These areas, as we have indicated previously are administered in keeping with wilderness standards. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that, subject to your consideration of the foregoing amendments, enactment of S. 174 would be in accord with the President's program. Sincerely yours, STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary of the Interior. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., February 2, 1962. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, DEAR MR. ASPINALL: We have considered carefully the questions raised by your letter of January 12, concerning the wilderness bill, S. 174, which has been passed by the Senate and referred to your committee. My assistant and legislative counsel, Max N. Edwards, has been in frequent communication and has discussed this matter with Mr. Milton A. Pearl of your staff. We appreciate your desire to schedule hearings on this bill as soon as possible and we shall cooperate fully with your committee on this matter. I wish to reemphasize my continued strong support for this legislation. We participated in the consideration of this bill by the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and we have subsequently reexamined it in the form that it passed the Senate. In our judgment, it is a highly significant proposal. Your letter raises four major questions which we will comment upon separately, as follows: (1) You request specific comment concerning the effect of section 4 with reference to the extent of the new authority that would be granted for the acquisition of privately owned lands presently within the perimeter of areas under our control that would be included within the proposed wilderness preservation system. Section 4 would authorize this Department and the Department of Agriculture to acquire privately owned lands within wilderness areas under their respective jurisdictions. Such acquisition would, of course, be subject to the approval of necessary appropriations by the Congress. If the need should arise this authorization would be helpful. However, in those instances where the Congress by special enactments has specifically restricted our land acquisition authority, we would expect to abide by those restrictions. As you know, the Congress has appropriated funds for acquisition of "inholdings" within areas of the national park system from time to time and we presume will continue to do so. So far as wildlife refuges are concerned, this feature of the bill is of relatively minor significance because there has been very little acquisition of "inholdings" in the types of wildlife areas to which this bill relates. (2) Your letter suggests that it would be helpful if we could furnish information concerning (a) the extent of private holdings within the proposed wilderness areas; (b) the estimated cost of acquisition; and (c) our estimate of whether the need for acquisition by the Federal Government would be modified in any way by changing the status of the lands from their current position to that "wilderness." Concerning the first part (a) of this question, because of the fact that the selection of areas which we administer that may be included in the wilderness |