New Hampshire Wilderness Act of 2006

The New Hampshire Wilderness Act of 2006 proposed expanding the National Wilderness Preservation System by designating approximately 34,500 acres of federal land within the White Mountain National Forest as protected wilderness. Specifically, it sought to create the Wild River Wilderness and expand the existing Sandwich Range Wilderness to include additional acreage.

For citizens, this designation would have ensured the highest level of federal protection for these lands, preserving them in their natural state by prohibiting commercial activities, motorized vehicles, and permanent road construction. While the bill would have permanently protected the area for primitive recreation like hiking and camping, it would have also restricted certain types of mechanical forest management and resource extraction within those specific boundaries. Although the bill received a majority of votes in the House of Representatives, it failed to reach the two-thirds threshold required for passage under a suspension of the rules.