Picking up where they left off before the midterm elections, the 109th Congress (now “lame duck”) today passed its second wilderness bill of 2006, the New England Wilderness Act, S. 4001. The bipartisan legislation now awaits President Bush’s signature.
“By passing the New England Wilderness Act, the 109th Congress is showing that it may be anything but a lame duck when it comes to protecting our wild public lands,” said Mike Matz, executive director of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness. “We congratulate the broad-based, bipartisan, two-state coalition of citizens and legislators that joined together to protect more than 76,000 acres of spectacular eastern wild lands. Their dedication and hard work is now a lasting legacy of our natural heritage to be enjoyed by our grandchildren and theirs.”
The bill will protect as wilderness 34,500 acres in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, including the proposed 23,700-acre Wild River Wilderness, and an additional 10,800 acres in the Sandwich Range Wilderness. Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest would see 41,652 more acres of designated wilderness, including additions to the Breadloaf, Big Branch and Peru Peak areas.
The legislation was the product of four separate bills introduced by New Hampshire Republican Senators John E. Sununu and Judd Gregg, and Representatives Jeb Bradley and Charlie Bass, and Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy (D), and Jim Jeffords (I), and Representative Bernie Sanders (I).
“Our public servants have shown a willingness to put America’s natural heritage first, to work together to achieve goals broadly supported by the public,” Matz said. “In the few weeks remaining, the 109th Congress can pass legislation to protect over a million acres of America’s most precious wild places: nearly 320,000 acres of the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains in central Idaho; some 100,000 acres of Oregon’s iconic Mount Hood; 545,000 acres in eastern Nevada’s White Pine County; and some 20,000 acres around Browns Canyon near Salida, Colorado, just to name a few.”
President Bush has already signed four wilderness laws passed by this Congress, protecting nearly 400,000 acres of wilderness, including desert canyonlands in New Mexico (Ojito Wilderness), a tropical rainforest in Puerto Rico (El Toro Wilderness), windswept peaks in Utah (Cedar Mountain Wilderness) and coastal forests in northern California (King Range Wilderness and others).
“In these last few weeks, Members of Congress have an important chance to again come together to demonstrate that wilderness is truly America’s common ground,” Matz said.
