Show Administration wilderness recommendations in By C. worsening minerals-energy crunch caused the Carter Administration on April 16 to add only more acres of wilderness to the recommendations made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in The Carter proposals were to add acres of wilderness to the National Wilderness System from areas in the National This would double the amount of wilderness in the million-acre National Forest from acres in wilderness to The USDA had recommended an additional acres to be added to the wilderness system from National Forest areas on as a result of its RARE II study of such Fifteen new wildernesses were added in 12 states in the including two each in Montana and and one each in South Washington and in Arizona-New But several were in South was a swap of one area for And several were splits of areas to allow for wilderness in one portion and use of other resources in other under the Carter Administration Only five percent of the mineral-rich Belt running along the Rocky Mountain chain from the Canadian-Montana border to Nevada was included in according to M. Rupert Assistant Secretary of who honchoed the U.S. Forest Service RARE II study of National Forest did not want to get in the way of exploration in the Cutler said at the April 16 press conference on the Administration's wilderness Areas in category were similarly minimized in the Forest Service experts told Western Resources Wrap-up on April Howard E. director of minerals and geology for the he thought the minerals industry was pleasantly that more acreage had not been recommended for wilderness by representatives who sat in on the inter-agency committee which provided the basic data from which the Carter Administration made its recommendations told April 17 that the Department of Energy was quite emphatic in urging that highly mineralized areas be made available for exploration and Particularly areas with high oil and gas they The U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Mines also had considerable was They did not always get what they of and and the Bureau of Mines basically provided technical information to the interagency Agencies which had an impact on the pro-wilderness side of the ledger were the National Park the Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection was REACTION Environmental groups were shocked that the Administration wilderness recommendations were so little changed from the original USDA question that the current concern about energy was a factor in the Administration John Hooper of the Wilderness Society told on April Hooper was distributing a press release at the Cutler press conference which stated are acutely with the wilderness recommendations that resulted from the RARE II study by the Forest They were particularly concerned that 60 percent of the areas of demonstrated high wilderness they was not included in the recommendations for wilderness The press release was put out by the Wilderness Friends of the Earth and the Sierra The timber Industry and the mining industry not all that pleased with the Administration's Keith R. vice president of the American Mining told on April Ad ministration's perception of the need for wilderness far outweighs its perception for the need for originating on public The National Forest Products Association's President Don Lee Davidson of said the results of the RARE II review would be annual decline of in timber harvest in the years It is therefore he for the areas determined not to have wilderness characteristics to be put back into multiple use promptly sustain Umber supplies and to preserve Jobs in communities dependent on na forest Davidson Davidson's concern on the return of lands which fell out of the RARE II review is due to the fact that is where most of the battles will be The environmental groups feel that they do not need to worry about the areas recommended for wilderness they will be managed by the Forest Service as if they were So they will be going after some areas in the non-wilderness category to try to get Congress to put them back into the wilderness Knoblock expressed concern that even if exploration is allowed on the 36 million acres released for multiple the exploration permits will be issued grudgingly and with a lot of strings That has been the experience of the mining industry to he told Banta told on April 17 that no determination has been made as to whether development will be permitted on the acres in the category in the The House Public Lands Subcommittee will have hearings next month on the Carter Administration wilderness and it will start field inspections at once in the It will make field inspections in California in and it will make field inspections in the Pacific the Rocky Mountain states and other areas during the Congressional recess in Priority consideration will be given by the subcommittee to the Shasta area in California and the Idaho Primitive a subcommittee source told on April The Senate Recreation and Renewable Resources Subcommittee is already looking at the Idaho Primitive It held hearings on April 2 in and it will hold more hearings at Salmon and Idaho in The Administration proposals may get a rough reception in both subcommittees because Cutler on April 16 flatly refused to go along with the requests of the two John F. in the and Dale in the Senate to postpone the return of the 36 million-acre areas to multiple use following the RARE II No determination has been made as to how the Administration's wilderness proposals will be sent to Cutler Several Forest Service experts told on April that considerable weight was given to the comments of governors and members of Congress as well as to the recommendations of the inter-agency committee in the Administration's final There was a reduction in particularly In Idaho at the request of John they Major changes were made in the recommendations for wilderness in the states of New Hampshire and South Dakota because these states' governors and Congressional delegations agreed on what should be done and took a unified they But in somes states-Oregon and Washington were mentioned as the prime examples-the Forest Service got such conflicting signals from their governors and their Congressional delegations that the advice itself Cutler said at the press |