1963: Forest Service Chief Edward P. Cliff Speech

In a speech for a Wilderness Conference in 1963, Forest Service Chief Edward Cliff described his agency's support for wilderness, his views on "purity" and which areas should be deemed wild enough to qualify for protection, and identified possible management directions for the future. Cliff also noted the recent Senate passage of a wilderness bill, though it would be more than a year before the full Congress would agree on a bill that President Johnson could sign into law.

At the conference Cliff remarked, "There has been substantial progress in the designation of Wilderness areas in the past 6 years. But there is still much to do in the study and reclassification of primitive areas, in studying and classifying new areas, and in the overall management of wilderness of all kinds...

I have a strong conviction that it is extremely important to maintain high standards of quality in the selection of Wilderness areas. To me this is more important than quantity or total size...

I am personally convinced that the wilderness of the future must be skillfully managed if it is to survive the large increase in use that can be expected. We must not permit the unique values of these areas to be lost or diluted because of the lack of management. I can't enjoy wilderness when it is crowded or abused. I'd rather see the use limited to the capacity of the area. I suspect most of you feel the same way...

I am sure that in the future we will have to engage much more actively in such management practices as distribution of users in time and place; limitation or rationing of use and scheduling of trips to reduce overuse at certain locations; development of carefully planned main trail and spur trail systems to encourage dispersal of users; temporary closing of some areas to permit rest and rehabilitation...

It may become necessary to recognize several different kinds of wilderness users and the impossibility of managing all areas for all of them. It is already plain that we must become more restrictive in the use of horses in many areas... It is not unlikely that some areas will be reserved for foot-travelers only.

The Forest Service recognizes the need for wilderness. It also recognizes that wilderness is a relatively scarce resource, and one that is getting more scarce... The 83 areas already designated, totaling almost 14.7 million acres, bear witness to our interest and our intent."
Sources:

"Wilderness Plans of the Forest Service" speech by Edward P. Cliff, Chief, U.S. Forest Service, at Eighth Biennial Wilderness Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 9, 1963.