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Managing growth and
development is an important issue, but it should not be tied to
designating wilderness areas.
Many groups and individuals who support
congressional wilderness designation of public lands bring up the issue of
land disposal and development on public lands.
They state that a wilderness designation will block all future
development, thus "protecting" the land, and imply that a wilderness
designation is the ONLY way to protect land from development.
The Wilderness Act was created to protect
existing wilderness areas. It was never intended to be a tool
used to stop Federal land disposal and development. The Wilderness
Act of 1964 provides the federal definition of Wilderness:
"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas
where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized
as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by
man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area
of wilderness is further defined to mean in this chapter an area of
underdeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and
influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation,
which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions
and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the
forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially
unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or
a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five
thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its
preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain
ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educations,
scenic, or historical value."
There
are
many other tools available, both legislative
and administrative, which can be used to permanently withdraw Federal land
from the disposal process.
A quick
look at a few of the larger agencies reveals the VAST amount of land currently
being managed by the Federal government. 4 federal agencies currently
manage 642 MILLION ACRES of land.
This does not include State Parks, military land and other land
designations. To put that in perspective, the total land mass of
the United States is roughly 2.3 billion acres.
Interestingly,
according to the Census Bureau, only 5.4 PERCENT of the US
is considered "developed". The bureau considers an area
to be "developed" when there are 30 or more people per square mile.
National Wilderness Preservation System:
According to the
www.Wilderness.Net website, there are currently
756 Wilderness areas, consuming nearly
109.5 MILLION ACRES of land. That number only takes
into consideration federal Wilderness areas.
A quick look at a few of the larger agencies
reveals the VAST amount of land currently being managed by the Federal
government.
BLM (Bureau of Land Management):
From the BLM website: "The BLM is
responsible for carrying out a variety of programs for the management and
conservation, of resources on
261.5 MILLION SURFACE ACRES, as well as
700 MILLION ACRES of subsurface mineral estate.
These public lands make up about 13 percent of the total land
surface of the United States and more than 40 percent of all land
managed by the Federal government."
US Department of Agriculture Forest
Service:
"Established in 1905, the Forest Service is
an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service
manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. National
forests and grasslands encompass 192.5 MILLION
ACRES
of land, which is an area equivalent to the size of
Texas."
National Park Service:
"The National Park System comprises
83.6 MILLION ACRES in every state (except Delaware), the District
of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
These areas include national parks, monuments, battlefields, military
parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation
areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House."
U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE
"The USFWS controls
95.4 MILLION ACRES.
These 4 federal agencies manage
633 MILLION ACRES of land.
This does not include State Parks, military land and other land
designations.
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