[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR19.5]

[Page 418-419]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
PART 19--WILDERNESS PRESERVATION--Table of Contents
 
           Subpart A--National Wilderness Preservation System
 
Sec. 19.5  Hearing procedures.

    (a) Before any recommendation of the Secretary concerning the 
suitability or nonsuitability of any roadless area or island for 
preservation as wilderness is submitted to the President, a public 
hearing or hearings shall be held thereon at a location or locations 
convenient to the area or areas affected. If the lands involved are 
located in more than one State, at least one such hearing shall be held 
in each State. At least 30 days before the date of any such hearing, 
public notice thereof shall be published in the Federal Register and in 
newspapers of general circulation in the area. The public notice shall 
contain or make reference to a map of the lands involved and a 
definition of boundaries and a statement of the action proposed to be 
taken by the Secretary thereon.
    (1) Any hearing held under this section shall be presided over by a 
hearing officer designated by the Secretary.
    (2) Any person may present testimony at the hearing orally or in 
writing, or both, by notification to the hearing officer in accordance 
with the published notice of the hearing. Witnesses shall not be 
subjected to cross-examination but the hearing officer may invite 
responses by witnesses to questions he may ask for the purpose of 
clarifying the testimony presented.
    (3) The witnesses shall not be sworn, but statements made by them 
orally or in writing are subject to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 1001, 
which makes it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to make to 
any agency of the United States any false, fictitious, or fraudulent 
statement as to any matter within its jurisdiction.
    (4) A verbatim record of the hearing shall be kept.
    (5) The hearing officer may be instructed by the Secretary to 
prepare and submit a recommendation concerning the suitability or 
nonsuitability of the area or areas for preservation as wilderness.
    (6) A copy of the transcript of the hearing record, and of any 
recommendation made by the hearing officer as a result thereof, shall, 
during the pendency of the subject matter, be maintained for public 
examination (i) in an office of the Department of the Interior 
convenient to the area or areas affected and (ii) in the headquarters 
office of the Department in Washington, DC.
    (7) The Secretary reserves the right at all times to consider 
information available to his office from any source not limited to the 
record of the public hearing or hearings, in the further consideration 
of proposed recommendations concerning the suitability or the

[[Page 419]]

nonsuitability of the area or areas for preservation as wilderness.
    (b) At least 30 days before the date of any such public hearing, the 
hearing officer shall advise the Governor of each State and the 
governing board of each county, or in Alaska the borough, in which the 
lands are located, and the other Federal departments and agencies 
concerned, and invite such officials and agencies to submit their views 
at the hearing. The Governor, the governing board, and the other Federal 
agencies may also submit views following the hearing but such views must 
be received in the Office of the Secretary by no later than 30 days 
following the date of the hearing to assure that they will receive 
consideration.
    (c) Any public views received pursuant to the provisions of this 
section will be accorded careful consideration and a summary thereof 
shall be forwarded with the recommendations of the Secretary to the 
President with respect to the area under consideration.

[31 FR 3011, Feb. 22, 1966, as amended at 37 FR 16079, Aug. 10, 1972]