Washington’s Wild Sky Wilderness legislation has met resistance from Republican leaders who have prevented it from reaching the floor for a vote. Photo courtesy Washington Wilderness Coaltion.
One hundred and sixty years after Lewis and Clark mapped the western half of the country, resource extraction and the needs of a growing population were threatening to overtake the last of our wild places. When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Act on September 3, 1964, the need for some type of preservation was apparent. The bill was passed with only thirteen out of 474 members of Congress in opposition.
Wilderness land is managed to retain its primitive and wild character. Motorized traffic and equipment is limited in order to prevent disruption of ecosystems and wildlife, and to provide the public with opportunities for recreation and solitude. The National Wilderness Preservation System, established by the act, initially included 9.1 million acres and has grown to include 105 million acres—about 4.7 percent of the United States. In that time, the population of the United States has increased by 60 percent, and it has become an ongoing challenge to maintain wild areas. A voracious appetite for what wilderness lands offer—land for housing and resource extraction, wood for manufacturing, fuel for industry and homes—threatens even wilderness and roadless areas that are already designated.
But the fight for wilderness continues. Only Congress can designate wilderness, so across the country hard-working citizens are promoting bills to protect places dear to their hearts, and, as stated in the act, “to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.”
Tumacacori Highlands
Above, Atascosa Peak. Photo © Matt Skroch.
The Tumacacori Highlands in the Coronado National Forest in Arizona are home to magnificent species such as the jaguar, the peregrine falcon and the Chiricahua leopard frog. Part of the Santa Cruz River watershed, the Highlands provide a naturally functioning ecosystem that offers clean air and water for residents surrounding the area. The Highlands are threatened by off-road vehicle use and impacts from an expanding population, including plans by a local utility to construct a 345-kilovolt power line through the heart of this wild area. A proposal that would preserve 84,000 acres as wilderness is expected to be introduced this year.
Allegheny
Above, Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. Photo © Kirk Johnson.
Pennsylvania’s sole national forest, the Allegheny, located in the northwestern corner of the state, currently has 9,000 acres designated as wilderness. During the current Forest Plan revision, citizens have asked the Forest Service to consider eight areas, totaling 54,440 acres, as wilderness. The proposed wilderness includes the Tionesta Scenic and Natural Resource area which contains a rare and invaluable remnant of eastern old-growth forest, but is threatened by oil and gas drilling and logging within its borders. Supporters hope to have a wilderness proposal before Congress next year.
Schell Creek
Above, hikers travel in a roadless area leading to Schell Creek. Photo © Ron Hunter/Friends of the Nevada Wilderness.
The 130,087-acre proposed South Schell Creek Wilderness area on the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest encompasses a portion of the southern Schell Creek Range, one of Nevada’s highest and most diverse mountain ranges, and provides a wide variety of vegetation and wildlife habitat. The area also includes archaeological sites with petroglyphs and lithic scatters, and carvings on aspen trees made by Basque shepherds, traditional users of the range. The entire range is still used for sheep and cattle grazing, which would continue even with wilderness designation. Congressional delegates will write and introduce the legislation once they sort out a tangential water issue that would be addressed by the same legislation.
Boulder–White Cloud
Above, mountain goats thrive in Idaho’s remote areas. Photo courtesy Idaho Conservation League.
Located in the Sawtooth and Salmon–Challis national forests, the Boulder–White Cloud proposed wilderness would protect the headwaters of four of Idaho’s free-flowing rivers and preserve habitat for fish, deer, elk and other wildlife. The wilderness proposal, expected to be introduced this fall, will offer a compromise to appease a wide array of constituents. It would preserve nearly 400,000 acres as wilderness, but would indefinitely set aside other areas for motorized vehicle use.
Virginia Ridge and Valley
Above, Mountain Lake Wilderness is viewed from a proposed wilderness addition. Photo © Lynda Richardson.
The Virginia Ridge and Valley Wilderness and National Scenic Areas Act is before Congress. If it passes it would protect 29,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest as wilderness by creating four new Wilderness Areas, and expanding five already in existence.
Great Burn
Almost 100 years after the huge forest fires of 1910, the Great Burn, a 250,000-acre roadless wildland that straddles the border between Idaho and western Montana, stands as a testament to the beauty of natural fire recovery. The Great Burn has been included in nine wilderness bills introduced in Congress between 1984 and 1992, none of which has become law. Coniferous forests and subalpine tundra provide magnificent vistas, but illegal snowmobiling, mining claims, timber harvest and roadbuilding are ongoing threats to the area, which is a critical biological link between the Selway–Bitterroot Wilderness complex to the south and the Cabinet–Yaak ecosystem to the north. Supporters would like to see wilderness proposed as part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial campaign.