WILDERNESS ACT TURNS 50----From The Flyway/Nisqually and Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuges Summer 2014 Aldo Leopold famously wrote, “Examine each question in terms of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” In the years following the Great Depression and World War II, a growing concern for wilderness began to develop, drawing support and enthusiasm from the writings of Aldo Leopold, among others. A cadre of these individuals, most notably Howard Zahniser, translated their concern for conservation of Wilderness into the Wilderness Act, which after almost ten years of revisions and rewrites was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 3, 1964. The law totaled only six pages in length, but radically altered the way lands are managed. The beneficial impact on the American landscape would be difficult to measure. The system of various land designations and their influence on land use can be a little hard to follow. National Park Service, National Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and US Fish and Wildlife Service lands are each designated according to the present condition, the management needs, and intended use of the land. Their missions are profoundly different, creating an inconsistent patchwork of protections. In addition to inherent inconsistencies, land designations can shift, and perhaps more insidiously, policies can shift within each agency according to trends, new science, and changes in administration or funding. The Wilderness Act created a new, more stable and consistent designation, simply called “Wilderness,” which, when superimposed over these other land designations, supersedes a given agency’s directive to in turn provide the highest level of protection: No roads, vehicles or permanent structures are allowed in designated Wil- derness, and the designation also prohibits activities like logging or mining. The “wilderness character” of the land must be preserved, in a state “untrammeled by man … affected primarily by the forces of nature.” Today, over 750 wilderness areas have been designated to protect nearly 110,000,000 acres of land. This anniversary is a major event for all four major land agencies. As such, over the coming months, look for announcements of special events, or celebrate by going for a hike in a Wilderness near you!
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 15:30:56 +0000
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