Here is a quick refresher on the basics of how a bill becomes a law. An elected member of Congress introduces a bill in his or her chamber (House or Senate). The bill is referred to the appropriate committee, which reviews it, amends it, and approves it. The full chamber then debates it, possibly amends it again, approves it and forwards it to the other chamber, which does the same. If there are differences between the two versions, those differences are resolved, both chambers (if changes have been made) approve the final version, and send it to the White House. The President signs it, and it becomes law.
Following is a description of the wilderness bills that have been introduced to date in the 110th Congress and a summary of where each measure stands in the legislative process.
Introduced on 10/4/07 by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), this bill proposes to designate wilderness on the Tongass National Forest. The bill, which has been referred to House Committee on Natural Resources, currently has 43 co-sponsors.
The Udall-Eisenhower Arctic Wilderness Act would designate the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as Wilderness. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the measure in the House on 1/4/07. The bill, which has been referred to House subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands, currently has 146 co-sponsors. On 11/8/07, Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) introduced the Senate version of this bill, which has 25 co-sponsors. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
On 8/1/07, Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) introduced in the House legislation to expand southern Arizona’s Pajarita Wilderness and designate the Tumacacori Highlands in the Coronado National Forest as wilderness. The proposed wilderness would total 83,300 acres. The bill had a hearing in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands on 11/13/07.
On 9/27/07, Representative Mary Bono (R-CA) and Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced the California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act. The legislation proposes to designate over 190,000 acres of wilderness, add new areas to the Santa Rosa National Monument, and designate 31 miles of Wild and Scenic River. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands held a hearing on the legislation on 11/13/07.
Below is a list of the Wilderness legislation passed by the 108th Congress and signed into law by the President. The 108th Congress approved two bills adding over 800,000 acres of public land to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
This Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act was sponsored in the House by Reps. Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Jon Porter (R-NV) and Shelly Berkley (D-NV) and in the Senate by Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and John Ensign (R-NV). This omnibus public lands measure contained six separate titles. The titles deal with wilderness designation and release, land disposal, utility corridors, the designation of an off-highway vehicle trail, conveyances for county and state parks, and a transfer of jurisdiction of two 8,000-acre parcels of land to and from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The wilderness title designated 14 Wilderness areas totaling approximately 768,000 acres and releases approximately 245,000 acres from Wilderness Study Area status. There are several controversial public land issues in various titles of the bill. For example, the environmental community was united in opposition to provisions in the bill that grant rights of way for pipelines that could transport rural Nevada’s water to Las Vegas.
This measure grants permanent wilderness protection to 33,500 acres (or approximately 80 percent) of wild land found in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore on the waters of Lake Superior in Wisconsin. Known as the ancestral home of the Ojibwe people, the Apostle Islands include remarkable cliff formations, sea caves and some of the most pristine sandscapes remaining in the Great Lakes region. The "Gaylord A. Nelson National Wilderness" was signed into law as part of the year-end omnibus appropriations package in December 2004. Gaylord A. Nelson is a former U.S. Senator and governor from Wisconsin. He is well known as the founder of Earth Day.
Below is a list of the Wilderness legislation passed by the 107th Congress and signed into law by the President. The 107th Congress approved a total of four bills adding more than a half a million acres of public land to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
The Big Sur Wilderness and Conservation Act of 2002 made significant additions to the Ventana, Silver Peak, and Pinnacles Wilderness Areas in California. In total, the measure added 56,880 acres of public land to the National Wilderness Preservation System. These areas are located in the Big Sur/Monterey congressional district represented by Congressman Sam Farr (D-CA) who sponsored the bill.
The bill designated the 14,000 acre James Peak Wilderness and adjacent “protection area” in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in Colorado. The bill also made a 3,000-acre addition to the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. The measure was sponsored in the House by Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) and in the Senate by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO).
This measure designated more than 440,000 acres of Wilderness in southern Nevada’s Mojave Desert region. This bill also included provisions dealing with a range of recreation, development, and conservation issues on public lands in Nevada’s Clark County. The measure was sponsored by Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D-NV) and John Ensign (R-NV) and in the House by Jim Gibbons (R-NV).
As part of the 2002 Emergency Supplemental Defense Appropriations Act, Congress approved a 3,600-acre addition to the existing Black Elk Wilderness in South Dakota. The wilderness addition was part of a larger settlement agreement included in the legislation allowing some fuel reduction treatments on approximately 8,000 acres of the 1.2 million-acre Black Hills National Forest, among other provisions.