By Bob Devine
Bob Devine is the author of "Bush Versus the Environment" (Anchor Books,
2004).
September 3, 2004
The Wilderness Act was signed into law 40 years ago because Americans
feared that what remained of our wild places would be paved over or
plowed under if we didn't protect it. People worried that they'd no
longer have wilderness in which to fish, camp, hike, canoe, hunt and
savor the beauty of the great outdoors. Our species lived in the wild
for eons, and even modern humans instinctively feel a profound bond with
untamed landscapes.
The Bush administration, however, seems to have overcome this instinct,
motivated by a desire to open public lands to logging, mining and,
especially, oil and gas development. It has systematically worked to
undermine the protection of wild places — the intent behind the
Wilderness Act.
The president and his appointees — many of whom have ties to these
extractive industries — have used many stratagems to prevent additional
federal lands from being protected. Consider their sustained assault on
the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, created under President Clinton to
restrict development on 58.5 million acres of unspoiled lands in our
national forests. First, the Bush administration briefly suspended the
rule. It subsequently became tied up in legal challenges and still has
not been implemented.
Most recently, the Bush administration proposed a regulation that
essentially would supersede the roadless rule, allowing development
unless a state governor intervened to stop it. Many of these roadless
areas lie in Western states whose governors favor short-term economic
gain for a few favored industries over sustainable development and
environmental protection. Even if a governor objected to development,
the proposal would allow the administration to override the request. In
another attack on wilderness preservation, the administration reached
all the way back to an obscure 1866 law. Intended to allow road
construction across federal lands to connect towns, this obsolete law
was repealed in 1976 — except for one provision covering already
established roads. In 2003, the administration announced new policies
that widened that narrow exception into a gaping loophole. These
policies permit attempts by states and counties to construe old wagon
roads, foot paths, horse trails and even tracks created by illegal
off-road vehicle traffic as "constructed highways" under the 1866 statute.
In California, for instance, San Bernardino County is trying to claim
hundreds of miles of dubious routes in the Mojave National Preserve as
established highways under this loophole. Once granted the right of way,
states and counties can bulldoze those imaginary roads into true roads,
even if they cross pristine lands. That would preclude wilderness
designation on those lands and allow development.
Perhaps the biggest blow to wilderness preservation occurred in 2003 in
a sweetheart settlement between the administration and the government of
Utah. The deal in essence directs the Bureau of Land Management to stop
looking for potential new wilderness areas to preserve and opens
previously protected BLM lands to development. The settlement affects
all 262 million acres managed by the BLM throughout the country, which
puts millions of acres of wild lands on the auction block. Already, the
oil-and-gas exploration rigs are rolling into former wild lands.
Fortunately, it's not too late to curb the Bush assault on our
wilderness. A number of pending legal challenges should help. So should
the surge of bipartisan citizen protest, notably the dismay expressed by
Republican hunters and anglers. They believe in the old slogan
"Conservation is conservative." Let's hope a passion for conserving wild
places prevails among conservatives and liberals alike, as it has in the
past. Otherwise the Wilderness Act's 40th-anniversary celebration may
turn out to be a wake.