WILD AND SCENIC RIVER ACT

The federal government enacted protective legislation called the Wild and Scenic River Act (WSRA) in 1968 to preserve and protect wild and scenic rivers in America, including their immediate surrounding environment for the benefit of present and future generations. It was legislation to forbid all commercial development projects, along designated wild and scenic rivers, which might in any way affect the wilderness, the scenery, and the purely recreational use of the rivers. Some of the national Wild and Scenic Rivers include the Alagnak, Bluestone, Delaware, Donner and Blitzen, Great River, Missouri, Obed, and Rio. The Wild and Scenic Rivers are managed by different federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The designation of specific protected rivers near human communities has created the potential for significant conflict between resource and conservation management agencies and the commercial interests of local residents. Strategic efforts are made by managing federal agencies to incorporate local values with the planning and management of protected rivers to reduce conflict potential. According to the WSRA, a wild river is "free of impoundment's and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watershed or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America."

See also: Environmentalism