Wilderness Bills Offer Congress a Chance to Preserve Extraordinary Places

Bipartisan measures would convey gold standard protection for species, habitat, communities, the economy

Article By: John Gilroy
Projects: U.S. Public Lands
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Wilderness Bills Offer Congress a Chance to Preserve Extraordinary Places
In southern New Mexico, the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act would safeguard 241,786 acres of wilderness within the eponymous national monument, which is home to Native American and Hispanic heritage sites and more than 300 species of birds. The bill is the result of years of collaboration among a wide variety of stakeholders, including Hispanic leaders, veterans, Native Americans, sportsmen, small-business owners, border security experts, ranchers, faith leaders, historians, and conservationists.
Bob Wick Bureau of Land Management

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act on Sept. 3, 1964, he said, “If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt … we must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.”

Since then, Congress has protected more than 110 million acres in 44 states and Puerto Rico as wilderness, the gold standard of federal conservation. These designations invariably came at the request of large groups of Americans seeking preservation of places they love.

Today, The Pew Charitable Trusts is working with local partners to advocate for wilderness designations in 14 states, with more than a dozen bills—many of them bipartisan—currently up for committee hearings and votes in Congress. Here’s a glimpse of 13 of the areas lawmakers have an opportunity to protect.

The Soda Mountains are within the 328,864 acres proposed as wilderness in the California Desert Protection and Recreation Act and the California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act. The bills would add 43,000 acres to Death Valley and Joshua Tree national parks, designate 77 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and create five off-road-vehicle areas covering 142,000 acres.
John Dittli
The Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area Designation Act would protect nearly 100,000 acres in Douglas County, Oregon—including some of the Pacific Northwest’s best wild steelhead spawning areas. The measure, which is now part of the Senate Energy bill, is named for World War II veteran Frank Moore and his wife, Jeanne, an expert on native plants.
John Waller
A stream courses through Cherokee National Forest. The Tennessee Wilderness Act would designate 20,000 acres of the forest as wilderness, preserving key watersheds and habitat for native brook trout, black bears, and gray foxes. The legislation also would protect an important migratory, breeding, and wintering habitat for numerous bird species and is now part of the 2018 Senate farm and energy bills.
Bill and Laura Hodge
The Virginia Wilderness Additions Act would safeguard as wilderness roughly 5,500 acres of the George Washington National Forest, preserving wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, and outdoor recreational opportunities only 200 miles from the nation’s capital. This measure is now part of the 2018 Senate farm bill.
Aaron Garza
The San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act would protect nearly 60,000 acres, half of which would expand the Mount Sneffels and Lizard Head wilderness areas and establish the first Bureau of Land Management wilderness area in southwestern Colorado—the McKenna Peak Wilderness. The measure would create a large roadless area and restrict mining and other development in Ice Lake Basin, Hope Lake, and Naturita Canyon.
Don Grall Getty Images
The Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act would permanently protect as wilderness more than 126,000 acres of ancient woodlands in the Olympic National Forest and more than 464 miles of river as wild and scenic, including the Hamma Hamma River. The measure will safeguard critical salmon habitat and sources of clean drinking water for local communities.
Douglas Scott
Under the Emery County Public Land Management Act, more than half a million acres of land in the county—including some of the most pristine wildlife habitat in the nation—would gain wilderness status, including Desolation Canyon, the San Rafael Reef, and Sid’s Mountain (above). The bill would also designate 54 miles of the Green River as wild and scenic, protect more than 300,000 additional acres of the San Rafael Swell, and create the 2,500-acre Jurassic National Monument, which boasts one of the greatest concentrations of Jurassic-era dinosaur bones in the world.
The Pew Charitable Trusts
A kaleidoscope of wildflowers blooms in California’s Carrizo Plain National Monument, one of the areas slated for wilderness designation under the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act. Included in the bill are some 150 miles of wild rivers and 245,000 acres of new and expanded wilderness in Carrizo Plain and Los Padres National Forest. The bill also would safeguard 1,200 plant species and more than 450 species of wildlife, including the threatened San Joaquin kit fox and the California condor.
Bob Wick Bureau of Land Management
The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act would add nearly 80,000 acres to three Montana wilderness areas, including the Grizzly Basin addition to the Bob Marshall Wilderness (above), to secure vital habitat for elk, deer, grizzly bears, bull trout, and other species. The bill would also create special recreation areas for snowmobiling and mountain biking.
Zack Porter
In Nevada, the Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act would designate over 136,000 acres of wilderness and preserve critical wildlife habitat, outstanding recreation areas, and dramatic landscapes, including these snowcapped peaks in the proposed Grandfathers’ Wilderness. The measure would also resolve management issues on checkerboard federal and nonfederal lands, providing economic development opportunities.
Kurt Kuznicki
The Rio Grande River wends through the Rio Grande del Norte National Monument in New Mexico, where the Cerros del Norte Conservation Act would designate more than 21,500 acres in two new wilderness areas— Cerro del Yuta and Rio San Antonio. This measure is now part of the U.S. Senate energy bill.
Bureau of Land Management
The Oregon Wildlands Act would safeguard nearly 90,000 acres of Oregon’s coastal rainforest as wilderness, including Devil’s Staircase waterfall on Wassen Creek. The bill would also add 119,000 acres of national recreation area lands in the Rogue and Molalla river valleys and designate over 250 miles of rivers and streams as wild and scenic.
Greg Lief liefphotos.com