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4/10/2005
The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, SD) - Buffalo Gap grasslands worthy of protection
- George S. McGovern

My hat is off to the Bush administration.

Yes, you read that right. Though I am not known for supporting many of their initiatives, I salute the Bush administration for having formally recommended new wilderness areas on the Buffalo Gap National Grassland east of the Black Hills. This is a fine idea.

This new wilderness plan can be one step toward regaining the bipartisan tradition of wise stewardship of our natural resources pioneered by another Republican president, Teddy Roosevelt. Thanks to the Bush administration proposal, South Dakota can be the first in the nation to preserve prairie wilderness within one of our Forest Service-administered national grasslands. Building on the Bush recommendation, hunting enthusiasts of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and other interested South Dakotans have shaped an exciting plan: the Cheyenne River Valley Grasslands Wilderness proposal. I hope our congressional delegation will join across party lines to move this carefully balanced proposal through Congress.

Why do we preserve wilderness areas? Beyond its popular recreational use by hikers, hunters, birdwatchers and young families who want to escape the whine and clank of machinery and the ever-present internal combustion engine, I see a deeper need for wilderness. Even as our forebears tamed most of the land into farms, ranches and towns, our wild prairie landscape infused South Dakotans with the vigor and energy of the frontier. If we leave future generations none of the original American prairie wilderness, we rob them of a connection to this pioneer heritage. I believe future South Dakotans will treasure the small areas of wild nature we leave for them far more than we imagine.

I am proud to have been one author of the Wilderness Act, one of America's greatest conservation landmarks. In 1959, I told the House of Representatives such wild places "provide a splendid opportunity to open the eyes and strengthen the hearts and minds of millions of young Americans. Just as man cannot live by bread alone, neither can he live by steel, concrete and petroleum. In every one of us, there is a basic need for the recreation of the human spirit that stems from the interplay between man and nature."

Five years later, I helped pass the Wilderness Act in the Senate, building on the bipartisan initiative of our own Sen. Karl Mundt, another original sponsor.

Portions of the proposed Cheyenne River Valley areas are used by ranchers under lawful grazing permits. As an example of the careful balance we struck in the Wilderness Act, we guaranteed that established livestock use will continue.

Over the years, I've heard some wildly exaggerated fears expressed about what might happen when a wilderness area is designated. A gap exists between such rhetoric and reality. Just one-tenth of one percent of all South Dakota land is protected under the Wilderness Act today. The new proposal involves just one-twelfth of all national grassland acres in our state - meaning those who prefer motorized recreation will have a far larger portion. That seems more than fair.

Theodore Roosevelt reminded America that our "public land, land that belongs to everyone and thus to no one, is one of the permanent homes of the American spirit." Nowhere is that home for the spirit more alive than in the vast grasslands of our great state. While we can, let's protect to the fullest extent this vital part of our heritage - truly wild prairie grasslands.

George McGovern, 82, of Mitchell, served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1957-1960) and Senate (1963-1981).