Eastern Wilderness Act Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The Eastern Wilderness Act of 1974 made it possible for lands in eastern states that had recovered from past abuse to be eligible for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Passed in 1964, the Wilderness Act (P.L. 88-577) established a system of wilderness areas called the National Wilderness Preservation Systems. Three federal agencies were given responsibility for managing wilderness lands: the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the Bureau of Land Management was later given responsibility for managing wilderness lands after passage of the Forest Land Policy and Management Act in 1976). Provisions of the Act specified criteria for the inclusion of new units in the system. Wilderness lands were to be “…primeval in character and influence… affected primarily by the forces of nature.” In addition, 5,000 acres was established as the recommended minimum size for wilderness areas. This meant that the majority of public lands large enough to qualify for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System were located in western states. Between 1964-75, only four of the 95 wilderness areas established in the United States were west of the 100th meridian.

The Eastern Wilderness Act emerged in response to the limited number of wilderness areas created in eastern states after passage of the Wilderness Act. In evaluating the suitability of lands, the U.S. Forest Service had strictly interpreted language found in the Wilderness Act. As a result, areas that had been logged or otherwise altered by human activities were found to be unsuitable for inclusion in the system. The shortage of wilderness areas in the east led to calls for more wilderness lands to be designated near eastern population centers. Among proponents for eastern wilderness lands was U.S. Senator George Aiken from Vermont. A member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Aiken was an advocate for additions to the wilderness system in Vermont and other eastern states where road construction, housing projects, and other activities were rapidly encroaching on the last undeveloped areas. In 1972, President Richard Nixon acknowledged the unequal distribution of wilderness lands, instructing the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to hasten efforts to identify lands suitable for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System. In the early 1970s Congress began debating the question of wilderness lands in eastern states. One failed proposal called for the creation of a separate eastern wilderness category within the National Wilderness Preservation System.

The Eastern Wilderness Act (P.L. 93-622) served as recognition of the need to protect wilderness lands in populous eastern states threatened by expanding populations and development. Signed into law on January 4, 1975, by President Gerald Ford, the act created 15 new wilderness areas encompassing 207,000 acres in 13 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin). Among new wilderness areas were the Sipsey Wilderness (12,000 acres) within Alabama’s Bankhead National Forest, the Upper Buffalo Wilderness (10,590 acres) within Arkansas’s Ozark National Forest, and Bristol Cliffs Wilderness (6,500 acres) in Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest. Another provision of the law was to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to review and report back within five years concerning the suitability of 17 other units for protection as wilderness. The act also affirmed that wilderness areas were to be managed in accordance with the Wilderness Act of 1964. Unless otherwise indicated, the law addressed only lands located eastward of the 100th meridian.

The Eastern Wilderness Act profoundly impacted land management practices in eastern states. As a result of its passage, wilderness areas are now located in most eastern states and include some small areas such as the Leaf Wilderness (940 acres) in Mississippi’s De Soto National Forest. In addition, large wilderness areas have been established in Shenandoah and Great Smoky National Parks.

Bibliography:

Stephen R. Fox, The American Conservation Movement: John Muir and His Legacy (University of Wisconsin Press, 1980);
Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American Mind (Yale University Press 1982);
Max Oelschlaeger, The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology (Yale University Press, 1991).