Figure 8.— A highline trail in the vicinity of Dream Lake in the Bridger Wilderness Area, 

 Bridger National Forest. The Wilderness Act declared the management of such areas for 

 wilderness values to be within the intent of multiple use directives. 



for which National Forests are estab- 

 lished as set forth in the Act of June 4, 

 1897 (30 Stat. 11), and the Multiple-Use 

 Sustained-Yield Act of June 12, 1960 

 (74 Stat. 215). 



Here then we have a direct indication by 

 the Congress of its interpretation of the mean- 

 ing of the original enabling legislation. In the 

 Wilderness Act the Congress declared that the 

 use and classification of certain portions of 

 the National Forest System as wilderness 

 areas, independent of their commercial value 

 for timber and watershed protection, is recog- 

 nized to be "within" the intent of the original 

 legislation. No new priorities are established 

 by this legislation, but it does give clear evi- 

 dence that as of 1964 the Congress of the 

 United States was interpreting the meaning of 

 the 1897 Act very broadly. The action did 

 not suggest that there was any question as to 

 the valid management of the National Forests 

 for purposes other than those specified in the 

 1897 statute. The wording of the Wilderness 

 Act was such as to minimize the importance 



of any priorities that may have been estab- 

 lished in timber production in the 1897 Act. 

 Any priority of uses that may have existed 

 due to Forest Service policies over the years 

 must then be viewed as just that — discre- 

 tionary policy, in no way directed by the 

 1897 Act itself. 



There is considerable disagreement as to 

 the intent of Congress with respect to the ex- 

 pansion of such wilderness classifications, but 

 that is beyond the scope of this study. A re- 

 view of the 8 years of legislative background 

 of the act suggests that once again political 

 realities dictated a wording vague enough to 

 persuade the various interest groups that the 

 bill said what they wanted it to say (see 

 Keane 1971b). 



The National Environmental 

 Policy Act (NEPA) 



The National Environmental Policy Act of 

 1969 (83 Stat. 852) added yet another dimen- 

 sion to the interpretation of the legislative di- 



31 



