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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1133. Use of wilderness areas
(a) Purposes of national forests, national park system, and
national wildlife refuge system; other provisions applicable to
national forests, Superior National Forest, and national park
system
The purposes of this chapter are hereby declared to be within and
supplemental to the purposes for which national forests and units
of the national park and national wildlife refuge systems are
established and administered and -
(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to be in
interference with the purpose for which national forests are
established 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) [16 U.S.C. 528-531].
(2) Nothing in this chapter shall modify the restrictions and
provisions of the Shipstead-Nolan Act (Public Law 539,
Seventy-first Congress, July 10, 1930; 46 Stat. 1020), the
Thye-Blatnik Act (Public Law 733, Eightieth Congress, June 22,
1948; 62 Stat. 568), and the Humphrey-Thye-Blatnik-Andresen Act
(Public Law 607, Eighty-Fourth Congress, June 22, 1956; 70 Stat.
326), as applying to the Superior National Forest or the
regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture.
(3) Nothing in this chapter shall modify the statutory
authority under which units of the national park system are
created. Further, the designation of any area of any park,
monument, or other unit of the national park system as a
wilderness area pursuant to this chapter shall in no manner lower
the standards evolved for the use and preservation of such park,
monument, or other unit of the national park system in accordance
with sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this title, the statutory
authority under which the area was created, or any other Act of
Congress which might pertain to or affect such area, including,
but not limited to, the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225; 16
U.S.C. 432 et seq.); section 3(2) of the Federal Power Act (16
U.S.C. 796(2)); and the Act of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16
U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
(b) Agency responsibility for preservation and administration to
preserve wilderness character; public purposes of wilderness
areas
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, each agency
administering any area designated as wilderness shall be
responsible for preserving the wilderness character of the area and
shall so administer such area for such other purposes for which it
may have been established as also to preserve its wilderness
character. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, wilderness
areas shall be devoted to the public purposes of recreational,
scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.
(c) Prohibition provisions: commercial enterprise, permanent or
temporary roads, mechanical transports, and structures or
installations; exceptions: area administration and personal
health and safety emergencies
Except as specifically provided for in this chapter, and subject
to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise
and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this
chapter and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for
the administration of the area for the purpose of this chapter
(including measures required in emergencies involving the health
and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary
road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats,
no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and
no structure or installation within any such area.
(d) Special provisions
The following special provisions are hereby made:
(1) Aircraft or motorboats; fire, insects, and diseases
Within wilderness areas designated by this chapter the use of
aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become
established, may be permitted to continue subject to such
restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture deems desirable. In
addition, such measures may be taken as may be necessary in the
control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject to such conditions
as the Secretary deems desirable.
(2) Mineral activities, surveys for mineral value
Nothing in this chapter shall prevent within national forest
wilderness areas any activity, including prospecting, for the
purpose of gathering information about mineral or other resources,
if such activity is carried on in a manner compatible with the
preservation of the wilderness environment. Furthermore, in
accordance with such program as the Secretary of the Interior shall
develop and conduct in consultation with the Secretary of
Agriculture, such areas shall be surveyed on a planned, recurring
basis consistent with the concept of wilderness preservation by the
United States Geological Survey and the United States Bureau of
Mines to determine the mineral values, if any, that may be present;
and the results of such surveys shall be made available to the
public and submitted to the President and Congress.
(3) Mining and mineral leasing laws; leases, permits, and licenses;
withdrawal of minerals from appropriation and disposition
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, until
midnight December 31, 1983, the United States mining laws and all
laws pertaining to mineral leasing shall, to the same extent as
applicable prior to September 3, 1964, extend to those national
forest lands designated by this chapter as "wilderness areas";
subject, however, to such reasonable regulations governing ingress
and egress as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture
consistent with the use of the land for mineral location and
development and exploration, drilling, and production, and use of
land for transmission lines, waterlines, telephone lines, or
facilities necessary in exploring, drilling, producing, mining, and
processing operations, including where essential the use of
mechanized ground or air equipment and restoration as near as
practicable of the surface of the land disturbed in performing
prospecting, location, and, in oil and gas leasing, discovery work,
exploration, drilling, and production, as soon as they have served
their purpose. Mining locations lying within the boundaries of said
wilderness areas shall be held and used solely for mining or
processing operations and uses reasonably incident thereto; and
hereafter, subject to valid existing rights, all patents issued
under the mining laws of the United States affecting national
forest lands designated by this chapter as wilderness areas shall
convey title to the mineral deposits within the claim, together
with the right to cut and use so much of the mature timber
therefrom as may be needed in the extraction, removal, and
beneficiation of the mineral deposits, if needed timber is not
otherwise reasonably available, and if the timber is cut under
sound principles of forest management as defined by the national
forest rules and regulations, but each such patent shall reserve to
the United States all title in or to the surface of the lands and
products thereof, and no use of the surface of the claim or the
resources therefrom not reasonably required for carrying on mining
or prospecting shall be allowed except as otherwise expressly
provided in this chapter: Provided, That, unless hereafter
specifically authorized, no patent within wilderness areas
designated by this chapter shall issue after December 31, 1983,
except for the valid claims existing on or before December 31,
1983. Mining claims located after September 3, 1964, within the
boundaries of wilderness areas designated by this chapter shall
create no rights in excess of those rights which may be patented
under the provisions of this subsection. Mineral leases, permits,
and licenses covering lands within national forest wilderness areas
designated by this chapter shall contain such reasonable
stipulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture
for the protection of the wilderness character of the land
consistent with the use of the land for the purposes for which they
are leased, permitted, or licensed. Subject to valid rights then
existing, effective January 1, 1984, the minerals in lands
designated by this chapter as wilderness areas are withdrawn from
all forms of appropriation under the mining laws and from
disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral leasing and all
amendments thereto.
(4) Water resources, reservoirs, and other facilities; grazing
Within wilderness areas in the national forests designated by
this chapter, (1) the President may, within a specific area and in
accordance with such regulations as he may deem desirable,
authorize prospecting for water resources, the establishment and
maintenance of reservoirs, water-conservation works, power
projects, transmission lines, and other facilities needed in the
public interest, including the road construction and maintenance
essential to development and use thereof, upon his determination
that such use or uses in the specific area will better serve the
interests of the United States and the people thereof than will its
denial; and (2) the grazing of livestock, where established prior
to September 3, 1964, shall be permitted to continue subject to
such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary by the
Secretary of Agriculture.
(5) Commercial services
Commercial services may be performed within the wilderness areas
designated by this chapter to the extent necessary for activities
which are proper for realizing the recreational or other wilderness
purposes of the areas.
(6) State water laws exemption
Nothing in this chapter shall constitute an express or implied
claim or denial on the part of the Federal Government as to
exemption from State water laws.
(7) State jurisdiction of wildlife and fish in national forests
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as affecting the
jurisdiction or responsibilities of the several States with respect
to wildlife and fish in the national forests.
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