Wilderness Act Looking Good at 45
Monday, August 31, 2009
BISMARCK, N.D. - It was 45 years ago this week, on September 3, 1964, that President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, groundbreaking legislation that would guarantee that future generations would be able to use and enjoy the nation's wilderness areas. Since that day, more than 109 million acres have been set aside.
In North Dakota, there are three wilderness areas: Chase Lake National Refuge; Theodore Roosevelt National Park; and the Lost Wood National Refuge. Doug Scott with the Campaign for America's Wilderness says there may be more wilderness areas coming to the state.
"Groups like the Badlands Conservation Alliance and the Sierra Club in North Dakota are at work on proposals to designate some of the national grasslands in this special way."
Scott says the Wilderness Act reflects democracy at its best, an idea that came from bipartisanship and now is a realistic tool used to protect the country's wild places.
"Forty-five years later we know that the Wilderness Act was not merely a promise and a vision, but it's now a proven method of practical preservation."
He says even the more than 100 million acres set aside only accounts for five percent of the country's land mass. The U.S. loses roughly six thousand acres of open space every day to development.
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