366 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
to the United States. Guidelines for land-use planning and
management must assure attainment of multiple-use and
sustained yield. Like most federal conservation statutes, the
Act incorporates the Multiple-Use and Sustained Yield Act
(16 USC 528 et seq.). Most important for our purposes, plan-
ning and management activities are to be undertaken so as
to protect the environmental, ecological, scientifi c, scenic,
historical, air, atmospheric and water resource values of the
public domain. Areas of critical environmental concern are
to be identifi ed and protected through regulation and plan-
ning as soon as possible. Land-use plans must be consistent
with all state and federal pollution control statutes.
The second largest administrator of public lands is the
US Forest Service, which controls the use of over 187 million
acres dispersed throughout the United States. Consolidation
and clarifi cation of the FS mission were accomplished by
enactment of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources
Planning Act and its subsequent amendment by the National
Forest Management Act (16 USC 16 et seq. ). These Acts, like
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, established a
comprehensive planning structure for the management of the
national forest system in general as well as particular for-
ests. Unit plans must integrate both economic and environ-
mental considerations. The Act declares that each unit plan
should protect the environment, provide for restocking, and
perpetuate multiple-use and sustained yield. Clearcutting
is prohibited unless it is determined to be the best means
of meeting the objectives of the unit plan. If clearcutting is
chosen, efforts must be made to mitigate its effects. Other
standards in the Act prevent premature harvesting of trees
unless such harvesting is compatible with other multiple
uses of the forest. While developing unit plans, lands unsuit-
able for timber production are to be identifi ed and timber
production from such lands is to be prohibited for a period
of ten years.
National Forest Lands and other federal lands can be
withdrawn from logging if Congress designates them as
Wilderness Areas under the Wilderness Act (16 USC 1131
et seq. ). These lands must be administered to preserve wil-
derness character and must be devoted to scenic, historic,
recreational, and similar uses.
As for mining on federal lands, the antiquated General
Mining Act of 1872 (30 USC 21) governing the location and
patenting of claims to hardrock minerals, has not provided
an adequate basis for mitigating the environmental abuses
of hardrock mining. However, where energy resources are
concerned, environmental protection is one factor to be
considered in awarding mineral leases under the following
statutes: Mineral Leasing Act (30 USC 181 et seq. ); The
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 USC 1331 et seq. );
Multiple Mineral Development Act (30 USC 521 et seq. );
The Geothermal Steam Act (30 USC 1001 et seq. ); and The
Federal Coal Leasing Amendments (30 USC 201 et seq. ).
A number of federal transportation statutes deal with
conservation of natural resources. Under both the Federal-
Aid Highway Act (23 USC 101 et seq. ) and the Urban
Mass Transit Act (49 USC 1601 et seq. ) the Secretary of
Transportation cannot approve a transportation project whichencroaches upon park land, wildlife refuges or historic sites
unless there is “no feasible and prudent alternative” and the
“program includes all possible planning to minimize harm to
such areas.” Highway planning must include environmental
factors and be consistent with State transportation plans pre-
pared under the Clean Air Act.
The conservation of Alaska’s vast natural resources
has been a high priority of conservationists for many
years. In 1978 President Carter, under the authority of the
Antiquities Act (16 USC 431 et seq. ), designated 17 National
Monuments encompassing 56 million acres of Alaskan land.
The Antiquities Act empowers the Secretary of the Interior
to designate certain federally owned lands as National
Monuments, including “historic landmarks, historic and pre-
historic structures and other objects of historic or scientifi c
interest.” Once a designations has been made, the Secretary
can prohibit any activity that would adversely affect the site.
An additional 50 million acres of land in Alaska were with-
drawn for wildlife refuges under the Federal Land Policy
and Management Act. Finally, in late 1980, Congress passed
the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, ratifying
most of the previous executive withdrawals.
America’s National parks have been referred to as its
“Crown Jewels.” The National Park Service was created in
1916 (16 USC 1 et seq. ) to “promote and regulate the use of
National Parks, monuments and reservations and to conserve
the scenery and natural and historic objects and the wildlife
therein and by such means as will leave them unimpaired
for the enjoyment of future generations.” Parks are created
by individual Congressional enactments, so that one must
look to the individual organic acts in order to understand the
legal restrictions applicable to each park. However, mining
in National Parks was severely restricted by the National
Park Service Mining Activity Act (16 USC 1901 et seq. ). NPS
also administers the Wild and Scenic Rivers Systems and the
National Trails System (16 USC 1241 et seq. ). Financing
for purchases of National Park Lands has frequently been
provided by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act
(16 USC 460 et seq. ).
National Wildlife Refuges are administered under the
National Wildlife Refuges System Administration Act (16 USC
668dd et seq. ). Hunting, fi shing, and other public recreation
may be permitted in National Wildlife Refuges if they are
compatible with the conservation purpose of the refuge.
Finally, there is extensive federal legislation relating
to the protection of particular wildlife species, including
habitat acquisition programs. Some of these statutes are the
Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 USC 1361 et seq. ); the
Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act (16 USC 1331
et seq. ); the Bald Eagle Protection Act (16 USC 668 et seq. );
the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act (16 USC 718 et seq. );
and the Water Bank Act (16 USC 1301 et seq. ).4In recent years, international environmental law has bur-
geoned to the degree that it is now one of the most activeC005_010_r03.indd 366C005_010_r03.indd 366 11/18/2005 10:25:16 AM11/18/2005 10:25:16 AM