Wilderness Act Signed After Eight Years of Industry Opposition, Creates National Wilderness Preservation System

On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law, establishing the National Wilderness Preservation System and designating 9.1 million acres of federal land as protected wilderness. The legislation defined wilderness as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” It prohibited roads, motor vehicles, buildings, and commercial enterprises within wilderness areas.

The act culminated an eight-year legislative battle marked by intense industry opposition. Howard Zahniser of the Wilderness Society drafted the original bill in 1956, but mining, timber, and grazing interests fought to weaken or defeat it. The American Mining Congress led industry opposition, arguing the law would “lock up” valuable mineral resources. The bill was revised 66 times over 18 Congressional hearings before final passage.

Industry lobbying secured significant concessions. The original bill would have protected 65 million acres; the final version covered only 9.1 million. Mining claims filed before 1984 would be honored within wilderness areas, and existing grazing rights were preserved. The U.S. Forest Service, which managed much of the affected land and had close relationships with timber and mining interests, initially opposed the legislation, reflecting regulatory capture within land management agencies.

Despite industry victories in weakening the bill, the Wilderness Act established an important precedent: Congress could designate federal lands for permanent protection from development. The law created a framework for adding wilderness areas, which has grown to over 111 million acres across 803 wilderness areas in 44 states by 2024.

The legislative history illustrates the power of industry lobbying to delay and weaken environmental protections. Zahniser, the law’s primary author, died four months before its passage, having devoted years to overcoming industry and bureaucratic resistance. The final product represented both a conservation victory and a template for how extraction industries could use lobbying to limit the scope of protective legislation while maintaining access to resources on public lands.