George Miller: “It did not take long to get past the disability issue here to see the anger over the fact that we have a national…”

“It did not take long to get past the disability issue here to see the anger over the fact that we have a national Wilderness Act in this country. It does not say no sign of man. It talks about the context in which the wilderness will be considered and which the wilderness will be created and it will be untrammeled and you do not see permanent impact of man in these situations. We have structures in wilderness areas. We have old trails in wilderness areas. In some cases we have old mines. As we try to create wilderness today in 1998, clearly the context is different than if you are trying to create it in 1898, because lands have been utilized from time to time. That does not mean that it is permanent upon the land. That does not mean overtime those trails will not revert back, as they are overgrown, what have you, if that is the concern that Members have, or even some of those crazy roads that some of your constituents have bulldozed into what they thought was going to be a wilderness area. Over time even out there in the desert some of those will be healed through time and through nature. But the fact of the matter is, the Wilderness Act says disability groups have not asked for this exemption. They have worked out a memorandum. This is really not about disabilities. This is really about trying to find another way in which you can get into under the old Wilderness Act and get those motorized vehicles in there.”