Public Law 94-567 is a 1976 Federal law that established a number of new designated Wilderness Areas on National Park Service lands. Signed into law by President Gerald Ford on October 20, 1976, the new statute added almost 900,000 acres of wilderness into the National Wilderness Preservation System. While the majority of designated Wilderness Areas at the time were located in National Forests, this was one of the first laws to formally establish wilderness areas in National Parks and Monuments.
Background
Responding to a heightened public interest in conservation and an increased threat to public lands by development, and other intrusive or consumptive activities, such as logging, Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964, Public Law 88-577 on September 3, 1964. Created, in the words of the law, “to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness,” the law created the National Wilderness Preservation System and a set of criteria and administrative processes by which natural areas could be added to this system. Under this new law, proposed areas on U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could be designated as Wilderness Areas, special reserves protected from human encroachment and development. Within these areas, unless specially exempted, Congress mandated that there “shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area...there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.” To be kept in as close to a pristine natural state as possible, these areas would only be open to hikers and backpackers, who would be expected to follow low-impact, “Leave No Trace” camping practices.
Legislative History
What would become Public Law 94-567 was introduced into the House on April 9, 1976 by North Carolina Democrat Roy Taylor. The bill, H.R. 13160, would have 19 co-sponsors in the House, including New MexicoRepublicanManuel Lujan Jr., and ArizonaDemocratMorris Udall, both of whom would successfully sponsor important Wilderness laws the next year. Passing through the House Committee on Natural Resources, the bill passed the House on September 20, 1976 and was sent to the Senate. The bill was approved, with changes, on October 1, 1976 and sent back to the House for approval, which came the same day. Passed by both Houses, the bill was signed by President Gerald Ford on October 20, 1976.
Section I
The first section of the law established designated Wilderness Areas in certain units of the National Park System. These new areas included:
The second section of the law ordered that maps and legal descriptions of each Wilderness Area should be available for public inspection in the office of the Director of the National Park Service, and with the superintendent of the parent unit of each new Wilderness, and, as soon as practicable, with the Interior and Insular Affairs Committees of both the House and Senate. The law further ordered that the maps and descriptions submitted should have the same force and effect as if they had been included in this law.
Section III
Noted that all of the areas named above would be considered as Wilderness Areas as soon as the Secretary of the Interior published a bulletin in the Federal Register stating that all activities prohibited in Wilderness Areas, such as development, consumptive activities, etc. had ceased.
Section IV
Authorized the addition of certain lands to the Isle Royale National Seashore in Michigan and Pinnacles National Monument in California. This section also ordered the Secretary of the Interior, as responsible official for the National Park Service, to attempt to obtain these additional lands by donation, purchase, transfer, or exchange, and authorized an appropriation of no more than $955,000 for their acquisition.
Section V
This section of the law addressed an issue concerning Wilderness Areas in U. S. Forest Service administered lands by instructing the Secretary of Agriculture, as responsible official for the Forest Service to review a 62,930 acre area of the Coronado National Forest in Arizona known as the Rincon Wilderness Study Area for its potential designation as a Wilderness Area.
Other Sections
Other elements of the law authorized the re-naming of the main environmental education facility at the Point Reyes National Seashore after recently deceased Representative Clem Miller in recognition of his role in championing the creation of the seashore.
