[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 708 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 708

  Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the designation of the Gila 
                              Wilderness.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 23, 2024

   Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Mr. Lujan) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the designation of the Gila 
                              Wilderness.

Whereas on June 3, 1924, the Forest Service set aside 755,000 acres as the Gila 
        Wilderness;
Whereas this was the first designated wilderness in the United States and the 
        world;
Whereas this designation marked the beginning of a national system of wilderness 
        areas and helped inspire the Wilderness Act of 1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 
        seq.);
Whereas Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee in New Mexico, worked to 
        initiate a Federal wilderness concept in the backcountry of what is now 
        the Gila National Forest;
Whereas Arthur Carhart, a Forest Service employee, argued that wilderness 
        recreation would help to develop individual and national character;
Whereas the Apache and Mimbres people have been stewards of this land from time 
        immemorial; and
Whereas, 100 years later, the character of the Gila Wilderness remains without 
        permanent human-built structures, protected and managed to preserve this 
        condition, and the wilderness remains a place unrestrained by human 
        development: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That Congress commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 
designation of the Gila Wilderness.
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