Chapter 2: What is Wilderness?

Bicycling and Wilderness: A Mountain Biker's Guide to Wilderness Advocacy

A review of several sections of the 1964 Wilderness Act will help you to understand its intentions, guidelines and scope. The act begins:

In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.

Congress defined Wilderness:

A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

The original Act designated 54 Wilderness areas on national forests and specifically directed the federal land agencies to administer these areas "for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness."

It is important to understand that exceptions to the hard and fast requirements for permitted and prohibited uses within Wilderness have been relaxed in many instances. For an overview of these cases, visit the Wilderness.net website.

Sometimes parcels that do not meet the strictest definition of wilderness create controversy and can impede a bill in Congress. In one example, a bill to create new wilderness near Mt. Hood, Oregon includes several isolated parcels less than 5,000 acres in size. The smallest is only 879 acres. Despite the careful collaboration that went into drafting this bill, the Bush administration has said it will not support the designation of the smallest parcels if they are not adjacent to existing wilderness. Stakeholders and elected officials will likely need to compromise on some areas if the bill is to pass through Congress and receive the president's signature.

1. In this paper, Wilderness with an upper-case "W" refers to designated Wilderness; wilderness with lower-case "w" refers to more generally to wild country.

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	Chapter 2: What is Wilderness? Bicycling and Wilderness: A Mountain Biker's Guide to Wilderness Advocacy A review of several sections of the 1964 Wilderness Act will help you to understand its intentions, guidelines and scope. The act begins: In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness. Congress defined Wilderness: A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. The original Act designated 54 Wilderness areas on national forests and specifically directed the federal land agencies to administer these areas "for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness." It is important to understand that exceptions to the hard and fast requirements for permitted and prohibited uses within Wilderness have been relaxed in many instances. For an overview of these cases, visit the Wilderness.net website. Sometimes parcels that do not meet the strictest definition of wilderness create controversy and can impede a bill in Congress. In one example, a bill to create new wilderness near Mt. Hood, Oregon includes several isolated parcels less than 5,000 acres in size. The smallest is only 879 acres. Despite the careful collaboration that went into drafting this bill, the Bush administration has said it will not support the designation of the smallest parcels if they are not adjacent to existing wilderness. Stakeholders and elected officials will likely need to compromise on some areas if the bill is to pass through Congress and receive the president's signature. 1. In this paper, Wilderness with an upper-case "W" refers to designated Wilderness; wilderness with lower-case "w" refers to more generally to wild country.


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