On June 22, 2004, Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) along with a bi-partisan group of 11 original co-sponsors introduced Senate Resolution 387 to commemorate the upcoming 40th Anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act.

Just as the landmark Wilderness Act passed with strong bipartisan support, the resolution was put forth with a bipartisan group of original cosponsors: Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Richard Lugar (R-IN), John McCain (R-AZ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), John Sununu (R-NH), and John Warner (R-VA).

The resolution recognizes the three sitting Senators who supported passage of the Wilderness Act: Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV), Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA).

Background
On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law thereby creating the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) and designating the first individual Wilderness Areas (nine million acres in total) that make up that system. Today, the NWPS encompasses approximately 106 million acres of federal public land found in our National Forests, Parks, Refuges and lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. There are Wilderness Areas in 44 of our 50 states and active citizen-led campaigns in more than 20 states working to add new areas to the NWPS.

For More Information

• Read the resolution 
• Susan Whitmore, Campaign for America's Wilderness, 202-266-0435