LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the
National Wilderness Preservation Act of 1964, and the 120th Anniversary
of New York State's Forever Wild constitutional protection

WHEREAS, The act of designating a wilderness by law, where nature's
reign is given full expression, forever free from mechanization and
human domination, is one of the most important acts of American democra-
cy and governance; and
WHEREAS, Indians, from the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations, to First
Nations throughout America and Canada, were the first to prove that
human spirit, survival and prosperity are inseparable from and dependent
upon wild nature; and
WHEREAS, America's passion for designating, protecting, managing and
recreating in wilderness areas has made it a global leader in wilderness
preservation and stewardship, and a beacon which many other nations have
followed; and
WHEREAS, New Yorkers have been at the forefront of such actions since
1894, when Article XIV, Section 1 of the State Constitution, the "Forev-
er Wild" clause, was approved by the people; and
WHEREAS, Article XIV, Section 1 remains highly popular and unchanged
today, 120 years later, encompassing 2.7 million acres of State-owned
Forest Preserve in the Adirondack Park and over 300,000 acres in the
Catskill Park; and
WHEREAS, It has been 50 years since Congress passed the 1964 National
Wilderness Preservation Act authorizing a percentage of the nation's
public lands be permanently protected for all their wilderness values,
now amounting to over 109 million acres of designated wilderness spread
across the country; and
WHEREAS, A New Yorker of much national influence, Bob Marshall,
created, with other allies, the Wilderness Society in 1935, which
employed Howard Zahniser to create, over an 18 year period, the national
coalition and legislative consensus to designate and expand a national
system of wilderness; and
WHEREAS, Wilderness areas are where humans may experience most keenly
our interdependence with all life, as well as solitude, recreational and
spiritual nourishment, and the opportunity to experience land retaining
its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or
human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its
natural conditions; and
WHEREAS, Wilderness areas also provide large monetary as well as non-
monetary values, including backcountry travel, fishing and hunting,
iconic wildlife habitats, and many billions of dollars of nature bene-
fits or ecosystem services such as clean water, erosion control, flood
prevention and storage of atmospheric carbon; and
WHEREAS, Eleanor Roosevelt was quoted as saying "perhaps nature is our
best assurance of immortality"; the act of protecting, preserving,
perpetuating and commemorating wilderness is our ultimate gift to young-
er and coming generations of all backgrounds in New York State; now,
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the National Wilderness Preservation
Act of 1964, and the 120th Anniversary of New York State's Forever Wild
constitutional protection; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve, The Nelson
A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the New York State Department of

Environmental Conservation, and the SUNY College of Environmental
Science and Forestry.