{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/hr-1349-restoring-the-original-intent-of-the-wilderness-act-to-allow-bicycles-in", "H.R. 1349: Restoring the Original Intent of the Wilderness Act to Allow Bicycles in Wilderness Areas", "2017-12-07", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "CA", "Tom McClintock", "M001177", "mcclintock.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Congressman McClintock has introduced H.R. 1349 to\u00a0restore the original intent of the Wilderness Act to allow bicycles in wilderness areas.\u00a0 The Congressman delivered the following remarks about\u00a0the legislation at a December 7, 2017 legislative hearing of\u00a0the House Federal Lands Subcommittee:\nHouse Committee on Natural Resources  \n\tSubcommittee on Federal Lands  \n\tDecember 7, 2017\nRemarks on H.R. 1349 by Congressman Tom McClintock:\nH.R. 1349 would restore the original intent of the Wilderness Act to allow bicycles in wilderness areas.\u00a0 People who enjoy mountain biking have just as much right to use the public trails as those who enjoy hiking or riding, and our wilderness areas were never intended by Congress to prohibit mountain bikes.\u00a0 A year after he signed the Wilderness Act of 1964, Lyndon Johnson said, \u201cThe forgotten outdoorsmen of today are those who like to walk, hike, ride horseback or bicycle.\u00a0 For them we must have trails as well as highways.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\nBicycles were allowed in wilderness areas from the inception of the Act in 1964 until 1977, when the forest service reinterpreted the act to ban them.\u00a0 This met with a stern rebuke from Senator Frank Church, one of the key sponsors of the wilderness act, who protested that \u201cthe agencies are applying provisions of the Wilderness Act too strictly and misconstruing the intent of Congress as to how these areas should be managed.\u201d\nIn 1980, Congress explicitly listed bicycling as a permissible use when it established the Rattlesnake Wilderness in Montana, and the Forest Service then rewrote its regulation to allow bicycles unless the local forest manager banned them.\u00a0  \n\t\u00a0  \n\tMany scientific studies have concluded that mountain bikes cause no more environmental wear and tear than hiking or horseback riding.\u00a0 A 1994 study by Wilson and Seney at Montana State University found that tires caused less erosion than hiking and horseback riding.\u00a0 A study at the University of Tasmania, Australia made similar findings.\nTrails maintenance is significantly hampered by the current ban on wheelbarrows \u2013 H.R. 1349 specifically allows them.\u00a0\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/speeches/hr-1349-restoring-the-original-intent-of-the-wilderness-act-to-allow-bicycles-in"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7454201113432646, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}