WILD ISSUES:
Recent Issues
Wilderness in Congress
Stewardship Concepts
System-wide Threats
Policy Guide
Essays & Whitepapers

Wilderness in Congress Share

Wilderness Watch is keeping an eye on the actions of the 111th Congress. In addition to tracking wilderness bills, we’re working with the new Congress to improve oversight of and support for the federal agencies’ wilderness programs.

We're seeing that all the talk of “change” hasn’t yet reached the halls of Congress when it comes to some Wilderness legislation. One might have hoped that Wilderness would get a reprieve from being used as a form of currency to be bartered for political favors. Sad to say, but so far old habits still hold sway. Below are some of the bills currently moving through Congress that Wilderness Watch and our allies are working to derail.

• S. 3294, Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act
• S. 1470: Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009
• H.R. 2430: To direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area
• H.R. 2806: To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the Park or the Wilderness, and for other purposes.
• Interior Appropriations Bill
• H.R. 2809: To amend the Wilderness Act to allow recreation organizations consisting of hikers or horseback riders to cross wilderness areas on established trails, and for other purposes
• H.R. 3538, Idaho Wilderness Water Resources Protection Act
• Other Important bills and actions


• S. 3294, Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act: Wilderness Watch has been working with other organizations, concerned citizens, and members of Congress to improve the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act (CIEDRA) since it was first introduced in 2001. Alongside 46 other grassroots conservation groups, we have vigorously fought the most egregious terms of this dangerous, precedent-setting, quid pro quo land bill. Some of those most concerning to us included highly fragmented, watered-down Wilderness-in-name-only designations—where private interests would take precedent over the public good, and the release of 200,000 acres of potential Wilderness from current protections—opening them to damaging off-road vehicle (ORV) abuse.

This year, Wilderness Watch is happy to report that our work has vastly improved Wilderness provisions in CIEDRA, Senate Bill 3294. Gone from the bill are most of the provisions allowing extensive motor vehicle use, habitat manipulation, and commercial special interest rights in the Wilderness it designates. We’ve asked Congress to make a few additional changes to CIEDRA so it adequately protects the wilderness in the Boulder-White Clouds of central Idaho. These requests include removing motorized corridors splitting the Wilderness into four fragments, protecting Wilderness Study Areas released by the bill from degradation—by prohibiting increased ORV use and corridors, and modifying CIEDRA’s language to precisely match that of the Wilderness Act so the Boulder-White Clouds is administered to protect its wilderness character.

Thank you to all of the groups and individuals who helped clean up this bill! This is a real victory for activists and public land lovers who reject the harmful trade-offs of quid pro quo wilderness legislation.

• Click here to read a statement by Wilderness Watch, Western Lands Project, and Friends of the Clearwater on CIEDRA for the hearing record
• Click here to listen to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests hearing on 6/16/10
Back to top

• S. 1470: Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009: There have been numerous criticisms of the "Forest Jobs and Recreation Act", S. 1470, introduced by Montana Senator Jon Tester, including its release of Wilderness Study Areas (including land designated by the late Senator Lee Metcalf in 1977 by S. 393 and several BLM-administered WSAs) and its privatization of decision-making on public lands to promote private profit (by allowing a select group of industry representatives to write forest management plans and then have Congress legislate the plans). The bill was heard by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommitte on Public Lands and Forests on 12/17/09. A U.S. Department of Agriculture representative testified at the hearing that the bill's mandated timber harvests "are likely unachievable and perhaps unsustainable" and "far exceed historic [harvest] levels on these forests." Wilderness Watch is part of the Last Best Place Wildlands Campaign, a coalition that is raising serious concerns with many parts of this legislation. Most of our main focus is on the bill’s damaging wilderness provisions.

S. 1470 includes many provisions that are contrary to the Wilderness Act, will compromise the wilderness character of areas designated as Wilderness, and will likely establish harmful precedents for future wilderness bills. Indeed, wilderness advocates have successfully fought to keep several of these provisions out of recent Wilderness bills. Should Tester's bill pass with these provisions intact, the door will be opened to including these provisions in future bills. More troubling is that the proliferation of such exceptions and special provisions are weakening the integrity of the Wilderness system. While Tester promotes S. 1470 as a "made in Montana" solution, the truth is that none of Montana's existing Wildernesses, more than 3 million acres, are encumbered with the plethora of weakening provisions found in S. 1470.

These provisions include pre-suppression activities for fire (including fuel reduction and other manipulation), installations of structures unnecessary for administering Wilderness (such as snow sensors and stream gauges), military training exercises that include helicopter landings, fish and wildlife habitat manipulation projects, motorized ranching activities, and the grandfathering of outfitter permits.

We encourage our friends and members to ask Senator Tester to remove these provisions from the bill, and to submit comments and concerns to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests by 1/8/10.
• Click here to read Wilderness Watch's testimony submitted to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
• Click here to download an executive summary of S. 1470
• Click here to download a detailed analysis of S. 1470
• Click here to listen to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests hearing on 12/17/09
Back to top

• H.R. 2430: To direct the Secretary of the Interior to continue stocking fish in certain lakes in the North Cascades National Park, Ross Lake National Recreation Area, and Lake Chelan National Recreation Area. The National Park Service’s proposal to end fish stocking in naturally fishless lakes in the Stephen Mather Wilderness in North Cascades National Park in Washington is threatened by legislation authorizing the Park to continue the practice. (The Park Service had proposed to end the practice on July 1, 2009, barring Congressional authority to do so.) The Senate failed to take action following House approval of H.R. 2430 introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), and the good news is fish stocking has ended with a ban in place. However, the bill is still alive in the Senate.
Back to top

• H.R. 2806: To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to adjust the boundary of the Stephen Mather Wilderness and the North Cascades National Park in order to allow the rebuilding of a road outside of the floodplain while ensuring that there is no net loss of acreage to the Park or the Wilderness, and for other purposes. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) has introduced H.R. 2806 that would authorize the Secretary of Interior to change the boundaries of the Stephen Mather Wilderness in North Cascades National Park to facilitate rebuilding and realigning a dirt road along the Stehekin River. The road begins at Stehekin, a small Lake Chelan village accessible by boat or floatplane, and forms a 20-mile-long “cherrystem” into the Park and Wilderness. The road has flooded numerous times over the years, and is impassable to vehicles beyond the halfway point with the upper valley section washed out in 2003 and 2006. Since 2004, this section has been maintained as a foot and horse trail.

In 2006, the Park Service prepared an environmental analysis that determined it would be too expensive and environmentally damaging to rebuild the road. The Park Service has testified in opposition to the bill, but despite this, the House Natural Resources Committee passed it, and the bill awaits action by the full House.

In dissenting from the committee’s action, Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) argued that changing Wilderness boundaries “should not be taken lightly,” and that the bill, “departs from [an] historic democratic process, by handing unprecedented authority to the Secretary of Interior” to redraw Wilderness boundaries.

The Senate has taken no action on the bill.
Back to top

• Interior Appropriations Bill: Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) has been trying to force the National Park Service to extend a commercial oyster farm lease for 10 years in the Philip Burton Wilderness at Point Reyes National Seashore in California. Legislation granting the extension was attached to the 2010 Senate Interior Appropriations Bill. The Interior Appropriations Bill was passed, but the rider was amended—with it no longer forcing the Department of the Interior to extend the permit, but rather granting the Secretary of the Interior the discretion to make the decision.

The National Park Service opposes extension of the oyster farm lease, as the agency intends to follow through on a provision in the Act that designated the area as Wilderness by adding the 1,100-acre estuary to the Philip Burton Wilderness (for more information, see June 2008 Wilderness Watcher: wildernesswatch.org/newsroom/newsletters). Senator Feinstein has claimed that this is a 70-year old family-run business, a very misleading statement. The current owners purchased the farm in 2005 with full knowledge that the permit would expire in 2012 and would not be renewed.
Back to top

• H.R. 2809: To amend the Wilderness Act to allow recreation organizations consisting of hikers or horseback riders to cross wilderness areas on established trails, and for other purposes. Everybody loves a parade, and H.R. 2809, introduced by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), would ensure the fun doesn’t stop at the Wilderness boundary. H.R. 2809 would amend the Wilderness Act to grant "members of a recreation organization acting as an organized unit and regardless of their number...the right to cross wilderness areas on established trails without restriction..." for day use.

The genesis of the bill is likely related to the "Roundup Riders of the Rockies," a group of wealthy horsemen who conduct a massive, yearly horse-riding event involving hundreds of horses, catered camps, music, etc. They've tried to use Wilderness many times, but have been told no, with the exception of a 2007 ride through the Spanish Peaks Wilderness in Colorado. Despite concerns from the agency’s wilderness staff and Wilderness Watch, the Forest Service Region Two regional forester Rick Cables set aside the “25 heartbeat” group size limit to appease this politically connected group.

There have been no hearings on the bill.
Back to top

• H.R. 3538, Idaho Wilderness Water Resources Protection Act, a bill introduced by Rep. Michael Simpson (R-ID) would require the Forest Service to issue special use authorizations to any owner of a water storage, transport or diversion facility existing in one of these Wildernesses at the time of designation. We’re looking into the bill’s intent and implications. We’re concerned about the precedent it would set for the entire Wilderness system. The bill doesn’t distinguish between lawfully-established facilities versus those that weren’t, nor between those with legitimate permits versus those without.
Back to top

Other important bills and actions:

Omnibus Public Land Management Act (S. 22):
President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (S 22) into law on 3/30/09. The 1,246-page bill contains 160-plus individual public lands bills, including 15 separate wilderness bills. Many of the wilderness bills are relatively clean, meaning they don’t contain special provisions that will diminish the integrity of Wilderness. However, at least two of the bills—the Owyhee in Idaho, and the Washington County, Utah bills—contain numerous harmful provisions that would open these areas to inappropriate activities such as the routine use of ATVs for herding livestock, motor vehicle use (including aircraft) and habitat manipulation by state fish and game agencies, and other damaging activities.

Another terrible provision in the Omnibus bill facilitates building a road through the300,000-acre Izembek Wilderness in the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Izembek is an essential refuge for a great variety of wildlife. It harbors more than a quarter-million migratory birds every fall, including the world’s entire population of black brants. In exchange for the road, the State of Alaska will transfer 43,000 acres of land to the federal government.

Wilderness Watch urged Congress to remove these harmful provisions from the Omnibus bill. The negative impacts to the Izembek Wilderness, the Owyhee country, Utah’s red rock country, and the standards for wilderness stewardship ensure that for a long time Wilderness will pay a heavy price for today’s political expediency.
Back to top

• The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (H.R. 980) would designate 24 million acres of new Wilderness in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. This is a clean bill that does not include special provisions that would undermine wilderness protection.
Back to top

• The Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act (H.R. 39; S. 231) would designate the Arctic Refuge coastal plain as Wilderness. This is another clean bill.
Back to top

• The Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area Act (H.R. 170) would establish the Dominguez-Escalante Wilderness and National Conservation Area in Colorado. The harmful provisions in this bill would allow construction of stock watering reservoirs and inappropriate “invasive species” management actions in the Wilderness.
Back to top

• The Central Idaho National Forest Public Lands Management Act (H.R. 192), formerly known as CIEDRA) includes a host of damaging provisions including routine use of motor vehicles for wildlife management activities, ATV corridors splitting the large Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness into four pieces, and several public land giveaways to local interests.
Back to top


TO FIND AND CONTACT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS, VISIT http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml. You can write your senator or representative at: Senator (Name), US Senate, Washington D.C. 20510 or Representative (Name), US House of Representatives, Washington D.C. 20515.

SOME TIPS FOR CONTACTING CONGRESS:
1. Personal letters, either hand-written or typed, make a greater impact than email. It’s best to also fax your letter because security measures may delay mail delivery to Congress. "CC'ing" your letter (or email) to the chair of the appropriate committee(s) is a good idea too, as committee chairs play an important role on most legislation.

2. Phone calls are an effective way to let your elected official know that you are for or against a particular bill. But you shouldn’t an intern or receptionist who answers phones to relay a detailed or complex concern to your Congressperson–they may not convey them accurately.

3. Email is not always the most effective means of communicating with Congress, but it’s easy to do, and unlike a phone call, your words are delivered by you, rather than interpreted by someone else. Remember to always include your address and phone number. This makes you a "real" person, rather than a contact spot on the internet, and it lets your Congressperson know that you are a constituent.
Back to top