Proposed legislation threatens wilderness - Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act

Published on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 12:08 AM PDT

Christopher Lancette
From the Kern Valley Sun

The Wilderness Society recently condemned the introduction of a bill by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that would roll back existing protections and place at risk tens of millions more acres of wilderness-quality but unprotected National Forest and BLM public lands.

“This is the biggest attack on wilderness we have seen in the history of The Wilderness Society,” Wilderness Society policy analyst Paul Spitler said of the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act.


“This proposal flies in the face of values Americans hold dear with respect to stewardship of our public lands. It also flies in the face of nearly 50 years of legislation designating new wilderness areas. Your favorite places where you love to hunt, fish or hike? Gone. Protection for our drinking water and habitat for wildlife? Gone.”

If passed, this legislation would open wilderness-caliber lands to destructive threats, including oil and gas development, uncontrolled off-road vehicle use and other unchecked development. It would essentially prohibit the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from managing pristine lands to protect their wilderness values.

“I want to stress that there has never been enough funding for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to to hire adequate personnel to monitor and provide adequate on-site surveillance of our wilderness area and our precious resources,” added Kernville resident Robin Little.

“The Congressman (McCarthy) should talk to Forest Service and BLM people who do their best to keep an eye on these folks and see first hand the unbelieveable damage they do when they blaze their own trails throughout the forests,” she said. “Talk about cost? Again, unbelieveable. Rebuilding these damaged areas is not good use of our taxes. We would appreciate hearing what the estimated cost of opening up Wilderness areas for multiple use purposes would be,” Little said.

“That this proposal comes from the Republican leadership in Congress makes it more alarming,” Spitler said. “An attack of this magnitude does not represent the vision of Theodore Roosevelt or all the other great Republican leaders who love our public lands.”

In an April 18 op-ed piece, the Bakersfield Californian attacked the proposal writing, “Perhaps most alarming, the bill essentially declares, ‘OK, that's enough wilderness.’ By prohibiting future administrations from protecting wilderness-caliber lands with special designations, the bill essentially closes the door on any further land-use changes relative to wilderness protection – except to move them out of protected status.”

Background on the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act

Rep. McCarthy’s bill would:

1. Remove existing legislative protections from millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management “Wilderness Study Areas.”

2. Remove existing protections on tens of millions of acres of unroaded national forest wild lands by terminating a decade-old policy that protected those places.

3. Repeal recent BLM policy that assures the agency will identify and protect lands harboring wilderness values when it prepares its land use plans.

4. Prohibit future administrations from ever protecting the wilderness characteristics on tens of millions of acres of wilderness-caliber lands.