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Show Utah Senator Presses for Strong Opposition to New 'Wilderness' Bill Bf Sen. Wallace F. Bennett A bill which would strike a' devastating blow against the Western states is now being considered con-sidered by Congress. If passed, It would make it extremely difficult dif-ficult for the West to develop more of its natural resources. I refer to the so-called Winder-I Winder-I ness Preservation bill, S. 1176. Hearings have now been held on this bill by the Interior committees commit-tees of both houses, and the bill Is picking up considerable popular pop-ular suuport mostly, I think among people who do hot understand under-stand it. The title of the bill makes it sound as if it were a rather harmless piece of legislation. After Af-ter all, who can object to preserving pre-serving the "wilderness," and protecting the natural beauty of our forests? But the bill would do far more than that. It would provide gradual grad-ual elimination of the grazing of livestock in the wilderness areas; it would stop location and patenting of mining claims, and the leasing of oil and gas resources; re-sources; it would prevent the building of roads into the "wild" areas, and lt would tie the hands of the National Park Service In administering our national parks. In effect, it would mean that vast area practically all in the West would be maintained solely for the enjoyment of the few hikers and campers who can get to them. Senator Hubert "Humphery of Minnesota, who introduced the bill, maintains that "existing uses and privileges are respected in this bill, and private rights are protected." I think, however, that many Utah livestock men and miners would sharply disagree disa-gree with that statement. Of course, we must have some regulation of mining and grazing and drilling for oil. We cannot give anyone a free hand to do as he wishes ith our public-lands. public-lands. That is why the existing contro.s were set up mar.y years ago by the Forest Service, the National Park system, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other governmental agencies. These agencies operate on the theory that our natural resources should be used for the greatest good of the greatest number of people, not Just for any one group. This is known as "multiple use" doctrine, which has been so Important in the development of the West. This doctrine will be a thing of the past if the wilder, ness Preservation bill is passed. Of course, lt is recognized that there are some areas which must be protected completely from mining, from grazing, and similar sim-ilar development. Those areas can be placed under the National Pary System as parks or monuments monu-ments under existing law there is no need to put all of our wilderness wil-derness areas indiscriminately in this category, thereby "freezing" all development at Its present stage. Ye this Is exactly what this bill would do. It would almost al-most have the effect of making the West one big national, park. I understand that the Interior of both houses are considering the possibility of holding hearings hear-ings "in the field" after Congress adjourns. If hearings are scheduled sched-uled in Utah, I hope the people of the state will make their opposition op-position to this measure known to the committee in forceful terms. The West is now embarking on a new era of growth and development de-velopment We cannot afford to have this growth stymied by ill-considered ill-considered legislation, passed in the name of conservation. |