Does Wilderness Designation Affect Current Grazing in an Area?
Grazing is allowable in designated wilderness, with grazing continuing in the ‘same manner and degree’ as it did prior to designation. New developments and uses are not considered a ‘grand fathered’ use, but current developments can be maintained by whatever methods were in use prior to Wilderness designation, including with the use of mechanized equipment and motorized vehicles. The Wilderness Act (Section 4 (d)(4)) notes that “the grazing of livestock, where established prior to the effective date of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable regulations as are deemed necessary” by the appropriate agencies. This provision of the Act was elaborated upon by the United States Congress in House Report 96-1126 in 1980. In that report, the committee expressed its intention that: “There shall be no curtailments of grazing in wilderness areas simply because an area is, or has been, designated wilderness, nor should wilderness designations be used as an excuse by admi
