Leopold Institute - What is Wilderness?

THE LEOPOLD INSTITUTE PERSPECTIVE

In developing our wilderness research program, the Leopold Institute has recognized that wilderness What is Wilderness means different things to different people. Wilderness can refer to lands designated or managed for:

the purpose of preserving natural conditions;
providing opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation;
and for their scientific, educational, scenic, cultural, and historic values.

Wilderness can also refer more broadly to conditions offering personal opportunities for challenge, escape, or spiritual growth. The research and research application programs of the Leopold Institute address the breadth of these meanings.

Wilderness and other protected areas may provide the most appropriate standards of relatively unmodified landscapes, and in addition to ecological and social values, these natural areas have tremendous scientific value. Wilderness offers a unique laboratory for scientists to improve our understanding of natural systems, and a unique opportunity for land managers to sustain ecosystems for future generations.

The United States federal Wilderness Act of 1964 provides a legal definition of 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 chapter an area of underdeveloped 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.

For more information about the National Wilderness Preservation System see http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=fastFacts

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