Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Report on the National Wilderness Preservation System

To the Congress of the United States:

The wonder of Nature is the treasure of America.

What we have in woods and forest, valley and stream, in the gorges and the mountains and the hills, we must not destroy. The precious legacy of preservation of beauty will be our gift to posterity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said a long time ago that "in the woods is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods we return to reason and faith."

Emerson would have been cheered and comforted by the establishment of a National Wilderness Preservation System. On September 3, 1964, when I signed that law it brought into being the preservation for our time and for all time to come nine million acres of this vast continent in their original and unchanging beauty and wonder.

The new law designated 54 National Forest areas--9.1 million acres--as units of the National Wilderness Preservation System, with special provisions for certain restricted commercial uses for a limited period. Included were all the Wilderness, Wild and Canoe areas previously established by the Department of Agriculture.

Thirty-four national forest primitive areas--5.5 million acres--will be reviewed over a ten year period for possible addition to the system. Also to be reviewed are all roadless areas of five thousand acres or more in the National Park System, as well as all such areas and roadless islands, regardless of size, in the National Wildlife Refuges and Game Ranges. None of the areas to be reviewed may be added to the system except as provided for by subsequent acts of Congress.

Only in our country have such positive measures been taken to preserve the wilderness adequately for its scenic and spiritual wealth. In the new conservation of this century, our concern is with the total relation between man and the world around him. Its object is not only man's material welfare but the dignity of man himself.

The Congress can justly be proud of the contribution of foresight and prudent planning expressed by this measure to perpetuate our rare and rich natural heritage. Generations of Americans to come will enjoy a finer and more meaningful life because of these actions taken in these times.

It is now my privilege to send to the Congress today a report which, in accordance with the terms of the Act last year, details the beginnings of our progress on a long road of "reason and faith."

I am confident that it is a road worth the travel and a journey we shall be proud to have pioneered.

LYNDON B. JOHNSON

The White House

February 8, 1965