Wilderness Viewpoints

1
Wilderness Viewpoints

• Anthropocentric
• vs.
• Biocentric

2
Evolution of Wilderness System

• 1872 - Designation of Yellowstone
• 1913 Hetch-Hetchy
• 1916 Establishment of National Park Service

3
Evolution of Wilderness System

• 1929 L-20 Regulation on FS lands
• Permitted uses today considered incompatible with
  wilderness but made it more difficult to
  implement them
• logging
• grazing
• road construction
• mechanical devices

4
Evolution of Wilderness System

• 1935 Wilderness Society formed by Bob Marshall
  and Aldo Leopold

5
Evolution of Wilderness System

• 1939 U regulations on Forest Service land
• Bob Marshall (Chief, F.S. Div. of Rec. and Lands)
• Three use categories
• U-1 Wilderness (gt 100,000 acres)
• U-2 Wild areas (5,000 to 100,000 acres)
• U-3 Roadless areas (managed for rec.use)
• Grazing mining permitted

6
Evolution of Wilderness System

• 1956 Howard Zahniser (Director of Wilderness
  Society) proposes first wilderness bill
• 1964 Wilderness Act finally passed by Congress

7
National Wilderness System

• Wilderness Act of 1964
• Created a national wilderness system.

Bob Marshall Wilderness Area
8
Wilderness Area

• An area where the earth and its community of
  life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is
  a visitor who does not remain.
• Wilderness Act, 1964

Sunlight Basin, Shoshone NF
9
Wilderness Criteria

• 5,000 acres minimum or adequate size to make
  preservation possible.
• Unnoticeable human impact.
• Opportunities for solitude and primitive
  recreation.
• May contain features of ecological, geological,
  scientific, educational, historic, or scenic
  value.

10
Wilderness Study Areas

• Areas being considered for designation as
  wilderness areas.
• Undergo a formal study of their resources to
  assess their suitability for wilderness
  designation.

11
National Wilderness System

• Eastern Wilderness Act of 1975
• Made it possible to designate areas in the
  eastern U.S. as wilderness.
• Less stringent concerning human impacts.
• Smaller parcels allowed (1,000 acres minimum).

12
Wilderness Managers

• National Park Service
• US Forest Service
• US Fish Wildlife Service
• Bureau of Land Management

13
Designation

• Wilderness Study Areas designated by President.
• Wilderness Areas designated by Congress.

14
Is this use permitted?

• Grazing?
• Roads?
• Mechanical devices?
• Buildings?
• Timber harvesting?
• Mining?
• Fire control?
• Wilderness outfitters guides?
• Aircraft use?

15
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Coastal Plain 1.5 million acres
16
Brooks Range, ANWR
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18
Gwichin Indians
Inupiat Eskimos
19
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