to discourage other exploiters who have seen in this very choice public land manifold opportunities for getting rich quick. They have been biting at it every since, with roads, airplanes, air-service resorts, court actions, legislative campaigns, and fait accompli. Only constant vigilance and struggle on the part of dedicated men, both lay and in the forest service, and conservation associations, women's groups, garden clubs and many others, including the Minnesota State Legislature, and further intervention by the Congress, and the executive branch, have kept the canoe country from succumbing.

I mention this history of the Superior National Forest canoe country because every other choice wilderness area that is reasonably accessible is going to come under the same tremendous pressure for exploitation, sooner or later. Some, besides the Superior, have already begun to experience them.

Our population is increasing at a rate that was considered fantastic 20 years ago. Our mobility and leisure are increasing even faster. The pressures that. have besieged our unique canoe country for almost 40 years, are just around the corner for other choice wilderness areas throughout the United States.

The story of the struggle to preserve the Superior canoe country is a case: history of what increasingly will confront all wilderness regions, without exception, in a matter of time. Because of its importance for the protection of the rest of our wilderness system, I will come back to this history in a moment, since only the barest outline has been told. But first let us answer a question: Why have we of Friends of the Wilderness, and others like us, felt it was so important to fight to preserve the Superior National Forest canoe country over so many years?

Members of the organization are not residents of the region itself entirely, though we have a large number of supporters here. But almost all of us have been in the canoe country many times, and all are acquainted with some wilderness, or wildernesses. To fully understand the value of a wilderness, gentlemen, you must have been there, and spent some time there, not much necessarily, but enough to gain some readjustment from the accustomed environment you have left, and this one that is as old as man himself.

It does not take long, for most. After all, these were man's surroundings during most of his history. As late as a century ago, or less, they were usually a part of the daily environment of our forebears. But now we are entering the space age. What are the values of such a wilderness today?

The values are both tangible and intangible. The tangible values are selfevident to most of us, alone transcending, in the scale of the welfare of all the people, the limited commercial values. The canoe country, as one example, is a superlative experience for young people particularly-although all ages receive dividends of much the same kind. For young people it has rewards of bodybuilding, character building, and self-reliance training, and an unequaled opportunity to get close to and gain some understanding of nature. It has unusual ethical and spiritual values. It has citizenship values; it tends to provide an important link with our country's past, and a perception of it, that otherwisemight be much slower in developing. Most of us know this from our own youthful experiences in this region. And we also know that there is usually an unconscious awareness that is something like this: The country that knows enough,. and cares enough, to set aside and preserve an exceptional wilderness like this, and gives me the opportunity to adventure in it, at really very little cost, that is within the reach of almost everyone I am proud that this is my country, and that I have the privilege of being a citizen of it.

There are also the intangible values. We have touched on some of the intangible values, above, since they tend to join inevitably with the tangible values. As we said before, to understand these intangible values of a wilderness such as the canoe country, one must experience the canoe country himself. As modern man drifts further and further away from his old roots in the earth, he needs more and more a few places where the natural environment survives. In an indefinable way, these are a sort of spiritual reference point between the individual's earthbound past, and a future that is increasingly distant from it.

Today, we unquestionably need such reference points, and we will need them more in the future. Our wilderness that remains actually is limited, and we cannot expand it. Most of it is distant, and not easy to reach, and when it's gone, it's gone forever.

We badly need a national wilderness policy that states in effect it is the considered policy of Congress that the highest purpose of our remaining wilderness. is that it be preserved in its natural state.

This would have preserved the wilderness canoe country without the travail of the last 35 years, and it would stop the current cynical attacks. In 1949 an Executive order of the President of the United States was needed to halt the dense airplane invasion of the area, that was in outright defiance of the intent of the Forest Service regulations, but against which the Forest Service was helpless. The Forest Service's right to halt road access to interior resort properties originally air-serviced was frequently challenged, until a Federal circuit court of appeals decision. The exploiters regularly return to the Minnesota State Legislature for support despite the fact that the body has invariably upheld the integrity of the canoe country over the years.

As long as the possibility of gaining, in one way or another, the use of this choice public land, represented by our wilderness areas, exists, so long will heavy, and unprincipled, pressures be directed against it. Only an overall Wilderness Act by Congress, such as this one, can stop the kind of attacks that have menaced the Superior canoe country for over 35 years. The law is needed now. Pass it out of committee to the floor of the Senate, where we know it will be speedily enacted into law in this session of the Congress.

May the wilderness canoe country live unspoiled forever and forever.

Sincerely,

WILLIAM H. MAGIE, Executive Secretary.

RESOUTION OF THE SHERIDAN COUNTY (WYO.) SPORTSMEN'S ASSOCIATION Whereas there has been introduced in the 1st session of the 87th Congress, a bill proposing the establishment of a national wilderness system, for the permanent good of the whole people, which represents many years of extensive hearings, voluminous testimony, and constructive revisions made to satisfy the objections of various groups; and

Whereas the passage of this wilderness preservation bill will greatly strengthen the Multiple-Use Act, Public Law 86-517, June 12, 1960; and

Whereas within Wyoming, there are 8 areas involving some 2,300,000 acres, which have been managed by the Forest Service as primitive, wild, or wilderness under the multiple-use philosophy and with the approval of the public; and

Whereas S.174 introduced by Senator Clinton Anderson, has been drafted to meet major objections to previous wilderness preservation bills which were endorsed by at least 22 National and 55 State and other organizations; Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Sheridan County Sportsmen's Association, at its regular meeting at Sheridan, Wyo., February 21, 1961, does support and urge the passage of S. 174 to establish a national wilderness system, and that copies of this resolution be sent to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and to members of the Wyoming congressional delegation.

CURTIS H. WARNER, President.

THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE PROGRAM,

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FUNGI, Portsmouth, Ohio, February 22, 1961.

DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: I am writing you in support of the wilderness bill. All the obvious reasons for my support need not be listed here. Suffice it to say that I am a hillbilly naturalist and as such head up one of the nature committees for the great people-to-people program.

The committee issues a newsletter and in the February issue I requested our members to support your bill by writing their Senators. I hope that this is some help to you.

If I can be of any help to you in the future, please let me know. I will help this worthy cause in any manner possible.

With best wishes for your continued success, I am,

Very sincerely yours,

HARRY S. KNIGHTON, Chairman, Fungi Committee.

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

STATE OF WASHINGTON, DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Olympia, Wash., February 24, 1961.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: With reference to hearings on the wilderness system bill (S. 174), I regret that due to demands of our current Washington State legislative session, I will be unable to appear before your committee on February 27 and 28.

I do wish, however, to include in the record of your hearings, my statement of opposition to the enactment of S. 174 or any similar wilderness proposals. prior to a complete analysis and report of our recreational needs by the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission. Furthermore, the land managers and professional technicians within existing Federal agencies are adequately prepared and have available legal machinery to assess area demands on land use and to determine such use for the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Due to the tremendous adverse economic implications in the establishment of oversize wilderness areas in Washington State, I cannot urge too strongly the need to refrain from any premature legislation on this matter. It appears entirely unwise and illogical to rush action on S. 174 while the Resource Review Commission is studying the circumstances involved.

As a matter of record, I wish to point out that in the State of Washington, the following groups have voiced opposition to the enactment of wilderness system legislation:

Washington State Grange.

Washington State Cattlemen's Association.

West Coast Mineral Asociation.

Northwest Mining Association.

Society of American Foresters.

State game department.

State Department of Commerce and Economic Development.

Chambers of commerce.

Western Washington Resources Council.

State department of natural resources.

Public power groups.

Various forest products associations.

County commissioners.

Washington State School Directors' Association.

Various sportsmen's clubs.

Western States Land Commissioners' Association.

Railway companies.

Further, I wish to call your attention to Senate Joint Memorial No. 17, a copy of which is attached. This memorial is now under consideration in the regular session of the Washington State Legislature.

Yours very truly,

BERT L. COLE,

Commissioner of Public Lands.

PROPOSED WASHINGTON SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 17

To the Honorable John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:

We, your memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, most respectfully represent and petition as follows:

Whereas the Federal Government owns approxmately 3 out of every 10 acres of land in the State of Washington; and

Whereas forestry, agriculture, mining, water developing, and all types of recreation are the basic industries of our State; and

Whereas Federal lands are especially important to our forest industry for a significant proportion of its raw materials; and

Whereas Federal lands are an important source of water for our agriculture, industry, and domestic use; and

Whereas Federal lands provide countless opportunities for outdoor recreation;

and

Whereas Federal lands are important present and potential sources of minerals; and

Whereas S. 174 and other bills now pending in the 87th Congress would establish a national wilderness preservation system which would require single purpose use for 50 million acres of western Federal lands which would preclude forestry, mining, grazing, water development, motorized recreation, and other resource development, use and management: Now, therefore,

Your memorialists petition to the Congress of the United States not to enact S. 174 or any other bill which establishes a blanket policy and single use for our Federal lands which tend to lessen the State of Washington's resource base and to preclude creation for the multitudes; and be it

Resolved, That the secretary of State send copies of this memorial to the Honorable John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, to the U.S. Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Member of Congress from the State of Washington.

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

Senator from New Mexico,

FLORIDA FEDERATION OF GARDEN CLUBS, INC.,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Pompano Beach, February 24, 1961.

MY DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: We wish to endorse wilderness bill, S. 174. Please make our request a part of the hearing record on the wilderness bill. As president of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., I represent more than 30,200 members.

Yours very truly,

Mrs. C. R. Mayes, Jr.

FAY M. MAYES, President.

THE GARDEN CLUB OF NEW JERSEY,
Essex Fells, N.J., March 2, 1961.

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

The U.S. Senate,

Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: The Garden Club of New Jersey endorses bill S. 174 authorizing the establishment of a national wilderness preservation system. We would like this endorsement to be made a part of the hearing record on the wilderness bill.

Respectfully yours,

ANNE R. SAYRE
Mrs. Austin B. Sayre,

President.

Senator CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY,

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN,

Madison, Wis., February 24, 1961.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SENATOR ANDERSON: Just today we were informed of the hearing to be held on February 27 and 28 for the wilderness bill, S. 174. The enclosed petition has been passed about during the afternoon, and, in our opinion, it has received great support. It is especially encouraging that nearly all the professors that were contacted have given their approval of the bill. In addition, 43 teaching assistants, research assistants, and fellows have signed the petition.

We think that the afternoon's activity has resulted in a more intense interest in the bill, and we hope that this will be influential in getting it passed.

66737-61-25

If we can be of any help in the future, please let us know. We would like to be informed of any new developments and would appreciate a copy of the hearings if they are available.

Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.

DEAR SIR: The Roamer Hiking Club of Los Angeles wishes to proclaim its support of the wilderness bill, S. 174. We wish same to be made part of the record.

Thank you.

Senator CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.:

BLYTHE EDWARDS, Conservation Chairman.

LOS ANGELES, CALIF., March 3, 1961.

In lieu of our being able to testify in person on the wilderness bill, S. 174, we ask that you accept this statement and enter in the record. The Los Angeles Audubon Society strongly supports the wilderness bill as sound national policy. FRANK LITTLE, Conservation Chairman.

PHILADELPHIA, PA., February 27, 1961.

Hon. CLINTON P. ANDERSON,
Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.:

The Pennsylvania SPCA urgently requests passage of bill, S. 174.

LEROY J. ELLIS, Manager.

Senator CLINTON P. ANDERSON,

EUGENE, OREG., February 25, 1961.

Chairman, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.:

Urgent that action on S. 174 be deferred until report of President's Outdoor Recreation Survey Committee, which makes recommendations September 1961. Land use designations should be made on basis of this 2-year study.

HONORABLE MR. CHURCH: As president of district No. 1, Idaho Wildlife Federation, I would like to make the following statement in regard to the wilderness bill, S. 174. I am unable to attend the hearing due to the distance but would like to have this statement incorporated into the hearing and made a part of the record.

We are aware of the few areas left in the United States that will qualify as wilderness areas. We are also aware of the need to keep these areas. We