The Wilderness Society v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Wilderness Act bars commercial enterprise within any wilderness area, without defining the term but listing specific exceptions that do not include commercial fishing. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game contracted with the non-profit Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association (CIAA), funded by the commercial salmon industry, to run a salmon-hatchery enhancement project inside the Kenai Wilderness: catching salmon outside the wilderness area, hatching their eggs, and releasing the resulting salmon back into the wilderness area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (defendant) issued CIAA a permit for the project, reasoning the Act was a legislative compromise that didn't reflect absolute preservationist values. The Wilderness Society and others (plaintiffs) challenged the permit; the district court found the project was not a commercial enterprise, relying on findings that its environmental impact was benign, CIAA was non-profit, Alaska heavily regulated it, and fishermen caught the salmon outside the wilderness area, and the plaintiffs appealed.