Ah, Wilderness

A multimillion-acre deal

It had been a frustrating standoff. For more than three years, Administration officials and some development-minded Republican Senators from Western states stalled legislation designed to add millions of acres of undeveloped forest land to the nation's 80 million-acre protected wilderness system. Conservationists, aided by sympathetic Democratic House members, stymied plans for the commercial exploitation of millions more acres of federally controlled woodlands. The issue between the battling groups: how to manage the pristine forests not protected by the wilderness preserves. Last week the combatants announced a compromise that clears the way for about 10 million acres of forests to be declared official wilderness and frees another 10 million acres for development. Exulted Peter Coppelman, national forest expert with the Wilderness Society: "We broke the logjam, and a lot of logs are going to come through."

The pact calls for a review every ten to 15 years of whether unprotected woodlands should be included in the wilderness system. During that time, the Forest Service will be permitted to manage the land as it pleases, including opening it to developers. The agreement is a victory for environmentalists who have long argued for a review system for unprotected Government forests. Administration officials and allies, chief among them Idaho's Republican Senator James McClure, have been opposed to this, arguing that developers need "certitude" if they are going to invest in land development. Says Max Peterson, head of the U.S. Forest Service and the chief broker of the agreement: "Senator McClure originally thought that since the wilderness designation was permanent, then the nonwilderness should be too."

Several factors caused the Administration to retreat from its antiwilderness position. Republicans up for re-election this fall became worried about projecting the wrong image. More important, developers began to apply pressure for a compromise. In a case involving California forests, a federal court ruled that nonwilderness designations had been based on an inadequate Government study. This allowed environmentalists to make a legal challenge of any plan to hand over federal lands for economic exploitation.

As a result of the compromise, the next year could see more acres designated wilderness areas than at any one time in the history of the system (with the exception of the 56 million acres of Alaska added in 1980). One beneficiary may be Ronald Reagan, out to shed his anticonservation image: over the next few months, it will be no surprise to see him amid woods and lakes, ceremoniously signing one wilderness bill after another.