§1782 Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Study

Summary

The Secretary must review public land areas that are roadless and at least 5,000 acres, and roadless islands, if they were found to have wilderness qualities in the inventory called for by section 1711(a). Those reviews had to be done within 15 years after October 21, 1976. Before recommending any area as wilderness, the Secretary must get mineral surveys from the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines. For areas the Secretary formally identified as natural or primitive before November 1, 1975, recommendations had to be sent to the President by July 1, 1980. The reviews must follow the process in section 3(d) of the Wilderness Act. After each report, the President has two years to tell the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House whether he recommends wilderness and must include a map and boundaries. A presidential recommendation only becomes law if Congress passes it. While areas are being reviewed and until Congress decides, the Secretary must manage them to keep them fit for possible wilderness. Existing mining, grazing, and mineral leases may continue as they were on October 21, 1976, and lands remain open to appropriation unless withdrawn under the procedures of section 1714 for reasons other than preserving wilderness character. If Congress designates an area as wilderness, the Wilderness Act rules for national forest wilderness areas then apply, including required mineral surveys and rules about mining access and land exchanges.