Defenders' Experts
WILDERNESS ACT OF 1964
(16 U.S.C. 1131 to 1136)
The Wilderness Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Secretary of the Interior was directed to review every roadless area of 5,000 acres or more and every roadless island within the national wildlife refuge and national park systems for possible inclusion in the System. The Act also included some national forest lands in the System and directed the Secretary of Agriculture to recommend others. Over 100 million acres have been included in the National Wilderness Preservation System so far.
PURPOSE
"In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."
LINKS
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
