Wilderness:

OUR E NDUR I NG A ME R I CA N L E G A CY
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WILDERNESS ACT

... 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.

The Wilderness Act, September 3, 1964

The Wilderness Society Page 3
The Wilderness Act, September 3, 1964
u
Reflections on 1964: Representative John D. Dingell, Michigan 4
u
A Vision for Tomorrow: Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams 5
u
Executive Summary 6
u
Backbone of the American Spirit 8
u
The National Wilderness Preservation System Today 11
u
Wilderness in a Changing World 15
u
Too Wild to Lose: Priority Places for Wilderness 18
Northeast
Coastal Islands, Maine
Northern Rockies
Rocky Mountain Front, Montana
Kootenai, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, and Lolo National Forests, Montana
Boulder-White Clouds, Idaho
Northwest Forests
Alpine Lakes, Washington
Great Basin
Pine Grove Hills, Nevada
Pine Forest Range, Nevada
Southern Rocky Mountains
Browns Canyon, Colorado
Hermosa Creek Watershed, Colorado
San Juan Mountains, Colorado
Columbine Hondo, Northern New Mexico
Appalachian Mountains
Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee
u
Wild for the Future 31
CONTENTS
Page 4 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
REFLECTIONS ON 1964
A Message from Representative John D. DingellThe Last Sitting
Congressional Member who Voted for the 1964 Wilderness Act
As one of the House authors of the Wilderness Act of 1964, and as we
approach the 50th anniversary of its enactment, I believe we would do well
to reect upon the Acts remarkable contribution to conservation efforts
across America and consider how best to advance wilderness conservation
in the future.
The House of Representatives took up the Wilderness Act in 1964 after the
Senate passed it the previous year. At that time, President Kennedy called
it one of the most signicant conservation landmarks of recent years.
During House debate on the Act, I said it would stand out through the
years as one of the most far-reaching and signicant conservation measures
enacted by the Congress in the 20th century. The truth in President
Kennedys and my words is manifest in the approximately 110 million acres
including nearly 260,000 acres in my home state of Michigan that have
been designated as wilderness areas since 1964. Just this spring, Michigan
was honored with the nations newest designation under the Wilderness Act
with the creation of Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness, a spectacular swath
of coastal beauty covering more than 32,000 acres of sandy shoreline,
crystalline waters, and lush foliage along Lake Michigan.
Despite the Acts success, we still confront concerted efforts to weaken
citizen opportunities to advocate for wild places, which provide economic
and recreational benets to communities and states all across our country.
Safeguarding the Wilderness Act and ensuring its continued use into the
next half-century and beyond will pay tribute to a pearl of wisdom of which
my father was fond of reminding me: We do not simply inherit this Earth,
but rather we borrow it from future generations.
I am proud to pass this shared legacy on
to my colleagues in Congress and the next
generations of Americans who will enjoy these
lands for many years to come.
Representative John D. Dingell
Michigan, 12
th
District
Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness
was designated by Congress in
March 2014, and is the newest
unit of the National Wilderness
Preservation System.
The Wilderness Society Page 5
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Wilderness Act, we pay tribute to those
who had the foresight to create a wilderness preservation system that is unique throughout the world. Americas wild places forged our character as a nation, and this year we must not only celebrate their protection, we must chart a course for wilderness conservation for the next 50 years.
Today wilderness is as important as ever, bringing countless restorative benets not only to nature but to peopleproviding clean air and clean water to myriad communities, reconnecting children with the magic of the outdoors, and creating jobs through Americas burgeoning recreation economy. But as we face a changing
world and a changing climate, our approach to protecting places must also evolve.
We cannot simply work to protect isolated acres of wilderness; we must connect wild places to larger natural systems that can be resilient in the face of climate change and allow nature to adapt and thrive.
We can protect southwest Colorados Hermosa Creek watershed to ensure connectivity to the greater San Juan Mountains landscape; join the northern prairie
with the Rocky Mountains in Montana to safeguard critical habitat for wildlife; and connect the largest remaining expanses of contiguous wild forests in the Eastern United States by protecting West Virginias Birthplace of Rivers. Establishing these interconnected landscapes, among many others, enables us to preserve Americas wildest places in the face of an ever-changing world.
To make wilderness enduring for a new age and for future generations, we also must empower local communities to safeguard wild areas close to home, connecting American families to the great outdoors and inspiring them to protect more remote wilderness lands. That means protecting places like Browns Canyon in Colorado, the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, Californias San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, and rugged Coastal Islands off the shores of Maine all highlighted in this report.
Fifty years ago the Wilderness Act afrmed that our wild places are worth saving, for the benet of all Americans and for all time. Looking back, we see the simple genius of the Act, and looking ahead we know that no matter what may change, our
need for wilderness, and the wealth of benets it provides, will endure.
Jamie Williams, President
The Wilderness Society
A VISION FOR TOMORROW
Page 6 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
A
mericans passed the
Wilderness Act in
1964 to protect forever
our most awe-inspiring
wild places and their
many human stories. The
responsibility to care for these
magnicent landscapes, and to
preserve our own special places for
the future, continues. But changes
unforeseen by the authors of the
Wilderness Act ve decades ago
pressures like climate change and
the onslaught of oil and gas leasing,
combined with the emergence of a
nature-starved generationmake
the resource of wilderness even
more essential to our nations
future. This
report highlights
Americas path
toward the
Wilderness Act in
1964, focuses on
key landscapes
that citizens
want to see
protected today,
and addresses
why wilderness
is more relevant
than everfor
the next 50 years
and beyond.
TIME SPENT
IN WILDERNESS IMPROVES OUR
QUALITY OF LIFE
According to Nielsen, the average
American adult spends 11 hours per
day with electronic media. Our next
generation is no better off: children
are spending half as much time
outdoors as they did 20 years ago.
1

Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an
average of 7 hours and 38 minutes
to entertainment media in a typical
daymore than 53 hours a week.
2
Disturbing health trends among
young people who are increasingly
disconnected from the natural
world include depression, obesity,
and attention decit disorder.
Recreational opportunities in wild
places benet our bodies and
minds and offer character-shaping
experiences to enjoy solo or with a
group of friendswhether hiking
a scenic day trail with family, or a
weeks pack trip hunting elk in some
of Americas heartiest backcountry.
Exposing children to the wonders
of wild places can help change
negative health trends and cultivate
the next generation of conservation
stewards for Americas future.
AMERICANS NEED OUTDOOR
EXPERIENCES FREE FROM NOISE
AND POLLUTION
At the same time as young people
are growing up
less connected to
the natural world,
we are losing
incrementallythe
quiet backcountry
experiences that
were still relatively
abundant in 1964.
Off-road vehicle (ORV)
use on our national
forests has increased
markedly in the past
50 years. The Forest
Service estimates that
ORV use accounted
for 6.7 million visits,
or 4 percent, in 2009
3

compared to an estimated 5.3
million visits in 1979
4
. Moreover,
according to the USFS project
Forests on the Edge, 21 million
acres of private rural lands near
national forests and grasslands will
experience substantial housing
density increases by 2030
5

raising the volume of people with

recreational access to public lands.
Half of all wilderness areas are
within a days drive of Americas 30
largest cities.
6
With the countrys
population expected to increase
nearly 50 percent by 2050
7
, more
people will be living closer to our
federal public lands for recreation
and renewal. With growing,
competing demands on these lands,
quiet backcountry experiences
may become increasingly rare for
future generationsunless we use
the Wilderness Act to preserve
more of our wild places. More
than two dozen citizen-initiated
wilderness bills currently await
passage by Congress. These
areas reect the diverse range of
people and communities across the
United States that want their most
cherished wildlands protected and
free of noise and pollution.
WILD PUBLIC LANDS DELIVER
ECONOMIC BENEFITS FOR LOCAL
COMMUNITIES
Recent economic studies highlight
the role of wilderness and protected
open space as drivers of economic
growth for rural communities.
Higher-wage service industries,
such as technology and health care,
are leading the Wests job growth
and diversifying the economy of
rural areas. Many Americans, from
entrepreneurs to retirees, are
choosing to live where they can
enjoy outdoor recreation and natural
landscapes. High-wage industries
are using the Wests national parks,
monuments, wilderness areas and
other public lands as a tool to
recruit and retain innovative, high-
performing talent.
8
By locating
their companies near popular
federal public lands, growing high-
tech and service industries wield
a competitive advantage, which is
a major reason why the western
economy has outperformed the
rest of the U.S. economy in key
measures of growthemployment,
population, and personal income
during the last four decades.
9

Moreover, the rapid pulse of
Americas outdoor recreation
economy showed clearly during the
government shutdown in fall 2013.
A 7.88 million decline in overall
National Park Service (NPS) October
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Wilderness Society Page 7
visitation resulted in a loss of $414
million NPS visitor spending within
gateway communities across the
country.
10
Utah, for example, a
state with bountiful parks and wild
spaceswas on its way to another
record year of tourism prot, but
instead suffered an estimated $30
million in lost revenue from the
shuttering of revered federal lands
like Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Arches
National Parks over a period of just
10 days.
WILDERNESS CONTRIBUTES TO
THE NATIONS CLEAN AND
ABUNDANT SUPPLIES OF
WATER
For many cities across the
United Statesincluding
Phoenix, Los Angeles, New
York, Denver, and Seattle
wilderness areas protect vital
watersheds that sustain millions of
peoples drinking water supplies.
Wilderness provides fundamental
ecosystem services that otherwise
require expensive and often
inefcient human investment to
recreate articially. Not surprisingly,
our nations healthy watershed
conditions most frequently coincide
with designated wilderness areas on
federal public lands.
11
WILDERNESS ALLOWS NATIVE
PLANTS AND ANIMALS TO THRIVE
UNDISTURBED
The largest single threat to
biological diversity worldwide is
the outright destruction of habitat,
along with habitat alteration and
fragmentation of large habitats into
smaller patches by roads and other
development.
12
According to the
U.S. Forest Service, the miles of
roads in Americas national forests
more than doubled from about
175,000 miles in 1964 to about
385,000 miles in 2000enough
to circle the Earths equator 15
times.
13
As havens for at-risk and
charismatic animals,
wilderness areas are
intact, core
landscapes
allowing
jaguars,
grizzly bears,
bighorn sheep,
wolves, ocelots, condors,
and other wildlife to
survive away from
development and noise.
Wilderness areas also offer
incomparable real-life
classrooms, where
the study of our
effect on the
planet
can lead to
solutions for how
to mitigate damaging
environmental change.
WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY
TO HAND DOWN AMERICAS
WILD LEGACY
It has been 50 years since
the Wilderness Act gave us a
tool with which to safeguard
our irreplaceable natural and
cultural heritage, for current
and future generations.
Protected wilderness belongs
to all of us and is a statement
of American ideals. In the
face of ongoing social and
environmental change and
human pressures on wild places,
we must continue to ght for the
lands that personify our American
spirit. Going strong since 1935, The
Wilderness Society is poised to lead
the charge toward a goal of greater
awareness, greater enjoyment, and more
diverse appreciation for wilderness. These
lands are simply too wild to lose.
Page 8 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
BACKBONE OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT

Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of
ensuring the safety and continuance of the nation.

President Theodore Roosevelt

N
orth American wildernessforests, mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, and all in
betweenhas instilled in successive generations an appreciation of our natural
heritage and national character. Wilderness has fostered our shared sense of
independence, self-sufciency and above all, hope. In times of crisis, war and cultural
insecurity, Americans have returned again and again to the calm and timeless beauty
of our natural placestaking their families hunting, hiking, shing, camping, or
picnicking on our national forests, parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands.
A NATIONAL IDENTITY
In the early days of the American
colonies, wilderness was the
physical challenge by which we
grew stronger and more self-reliant,
carving out farms and communities
to sustain our edgling nation.
Since the 1800s, wildernessraw,
rugged landhas been an element
that sets America apart from much
of the developed world. During
the Romantic period, artists, poets,
writers, and theologians seized on
these vast, wild landscapes as a
uniquely American asset, portraying
their beauty as unparalleled in the
world. Writers like Thoreau and
Emerson proclaimed value in living
simply and nding ones closeness to
God by communing with wild nature.
It was Thomas Morans paintings of
Yellowstone country that ultimately
helped Congress decide that the
area was worthy of national park
status in 1872. The Romantic myth
of a limitless garden helped kindle
American westward expansion,
which continued unabated for nearly
100 years.
WHAT WAS AT STAKE
As settlement expanded across
the continentaided by the
aggressive spread of the railroad,
the California gold rush, and waves
of homesteaderswild places and
the native cultures that thrived
within them began to suffer.
Americas industrial appetite fueled
the harvest of 90% of Eastern
forests by the 1880sleading to
the passage of the Forest Reserve
Act and the beginnings of the U.S.
Forest Service. In 1893, an essay by
Frederick Jackson Turner abruptly
announced that the American
frontier had ofcially disappeared.
Emerging from the Gilded Age
at the dawn of the 20th century,
President Theodore Roosevelt
lamented the state of American
culture as indolent, morally corrupt,
Most of us descend from foreigners who
passed through mountains, forests, and
deserts, who cut a way through and above
and around and died doing it, lived doing
it, and were profoundly changed by the
act of moving through a place that was
relentless in its resistance to any passage.
That resistance led to friction, and that
friction with land and water burned away
what we used to be, and forged what we
would eventually become, what we are
still becoming. We are Americans. Our
character was shaped by passages through
Wilderness.
Shelton Johnson
National Park Service Ranger
Yosemite NP
Shelton Johnson grew up in inner city Detroit
and fell in love with the mountains at an early
age. Before nishing his Masters degree,
he spent a summer in Yellowstone National
Park where, in his words, he was hooked.
Shelton has spent the bulk of his adult life
in national parks and travels extensively
throughout the country educating children
about the experiences of the Buffalo Soldiers
in the American West.
and greedya society that had lost
sight of the robust, entrepreneurial
values that had shaped our nation
just 100 years earlier. As a remedy,
Roosevelt challenged citizens to get
out and experience wild America
once againto remember the
wilderness hardships that shaped a
great nation and to appreciate and
protect our remaining wild places
so that future generations would
benet from them.
VISIONS FOR WILD AMERICA
The conservation movement we
know today began with the notion
of saving wild places for their beauty
but also for their role in preserving
forests and wildlife, protecting
water supplies and providing
robust recreational opportunities
for a growing America. Champions
emerged in many walks of life,
including political and business
leaders, hunters, artists, scientists,
and faith leaders throughout the
United States. Many of these
prominent visionaries were founders
of The Wilderness Society in
1935forward thinkers of their
day and avid outdoor enthusiasts
in their own right. Among them:
Aldo Leopold, who introduced
the concept of ecology to the
U.S. Forest Service and pushed
for the establishment of roadless
primitive areas on USFS lands;
Bob Marshall, a curious New Yorker
with a Ph.D. in plant physiology
and an insatiable appetite for
hiking, writing and advocating
for wilderness protection;
Robert Sterling Yard, who
awakened the nation to the
scenic magnitude of wilderness
and whose passionate writings
helped establish the National
Park Service; Benton Mackaye,
best known for fathering the
idea of the Appalachian Trail;
and Harvey Broome, who
worked closely with Wilderness
Act author Howard Zahniser to
persuade Congress to create
a national system of wildlands.
Zahniser wrote 66 drafts of
the Wilderness Act between
1956 and 1964 and steered it
through 18 hearings; it nally
passed the Senate 73-12 and
passed the House by a near
unanimous 374-1 margin.
A BEACON TO THE WORLD
In 1964, the United States
charted a course new in
the history of nations. The
Wilderness Act established
the National Wilderness
Preservation System (NWPS)
beginning with 9.1 million acres
of national forest lands. The
law created a process that has
empowered Americans to work
with their members of Congress
to protect natural landscapes
that enhance their communities,
improve quality of life and
The Wilderness Society Page 9
Page 10 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
inspire outdoor
exploration for
generations to come.
It was the rst of its
kind, anywhere in the
world. Today, the
NWPS is nearly 110
million acres strong
stretching from the
frigid tip of Alaska to
the blistering heat
of Death Valley,
sweeping across the
continent toward
the forests of the
Rocky Mountains,
the ancient peaks
traversed by the
Appalachian
Trail, the rugged
coastline of Maine
and as far south as Puerto Rico and the
tropics of Hawaii. As the largest wilderness
system in the world, Americas National
Wilderness Preservation System stands as an
inspiration to many nations who seek to preserve
their natural and cultural resources.
NO MOUNTAIN TOO HIGH OR
TRIL TOO STEEP
Fifty years since the passage of the Wilderness
Act, Americans are still working to save the
most vulnerable pieces of our wild heritage; the
threats continue to mount. From oil and gas
drilling to relentless off-road vehicle incursions
into some of our last quiet forests and deserts,
and the ever-present onslaught of climate
change, wilderness areasexisting and yet-to-be
designatedand the wildlife they support need
more defenders now than ever before. At The
Wilderness Society, we work with communities
helping them to strategically plan a path forward
for protecting their neighboring wildlands while
at the same time enhancing their quality of life.
We work locally. We use science as our guide
and we work collaboratively. Thats how it has
been since 1935.
Today, wilderness serves as a reminder of our
cultural and natural history, our duty to steward
the Earth, and our responsibility to ensure
American vitality for the future. It falls to us, as
a nation, as inheritors of this great wilderness
legacy, to protect the vulnerable wild lands and
waters that remain, and to pass on this heritage
and historical context to the next generation of
hopeful, resilient, and innovative Americansfor
the next 50 years and beyond.
Designated
Wilderness
The Wilderness Society Page 11
THE NATIONAL WILDERNESS
PRESERVATION SYSTEM TODAY
O
ver its 50 year history, the Wilderness Act has preserved a diverse network
of nearly 110 million acres of wild public lands in every corner of the United
States758 distinct unitsthat help us reconnect with the magic of our natural
and cultural heritage. In terms of acreage, only about 5% of the entire United
States is protected as wilderness. Much has changed since 1964in our culture and
across our American landscape. But in an ironic way, the places that remain most
unchanged are where we learn deeply about our human effect on the planet and
about ourselves.
This map shows the extent of the National Wilderness Preservation System today and
calls out some notable places that help Americans connect with their wild side.
1
SCAPEGOAT WILDERNESS, MONTANA (U.S. FOREST SERVICE)
SIZE: 239,936 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1972
The Scapegoat is part of the larger Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex,
which covers more than 1.5 million acres of Northwestern Montana
spread across both sides of the continental divide. Between the steep
mountain ridges and cliffs are lush alpine meadows and forests where
grizzly bear, gray wolf, moose, mountain lions, elk, mountain goats and
mountain sheep reside. Local citizens who hiked and camped in this
backcountry provided the grassroots push beginning in the 1960s that
eventually led to its inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation
System as the rst citizen-initiated wilderness area.
1
6
3
9
5
2
4
10
8
7
11
12
13
Page 12 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
2
MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS WILDERNESS,
FLORIDA (NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 1,296,500 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1978
This wilderness area covers most of the Everglades
National Park in Florida, featuring a vast, teeming
river of grass. The marshes, forests and waterways
provide essential habitat for alligators, amingos,
cranes and hundreds of other species. The area
is named after Marjory Stoneman Douglas, a prolic writer, suffragist and college professor who championed
preservation of this landscape beginning as early as 1927 and helped the public to recognize the Everglades as a
vibrant, irreplaceable ecosystem.
3
GILA WILDERNESS, NEW MEXICO (U.S. FOREST SERVICE)
SIZE: 558,014 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1964
Fighting against a proposed road system expansion on the Gila National Forest
in the early 1920s, forester Aldo Leopold argued instead that a large area be left
roadless and preserved for wilderness recreation. Leopolds proposal for the Gila
Wilderness in 1924 was a landmark development in United States conservation
history. Administratively protected as Americas rst wilderness area for the rst
40 years of its existence, the Gila Wilderness gained full protection when the
Wilderness Act passed in 1964. Both the Gila Wilderness and its neighbor, the
Blue Range Primitive Area in Arizona, are conservation legacies of Aldo Leopold.
They have served as reintroduction sites for Mexican gray wolves, the animal that
helped Leopold grasp the concept of managing land as a community of equally
important parts.
4
SHENANDOAH WILDERNESS, VIRGINIA
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 79,579 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1976
This wilderness covers several patches along an 80-mile stretch
of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park
in northwest Virginia. A short distance from nearly 6 million
people in the Washington, D.C., metro area, this forest provides
opportunities for hiking, camping and viewing the spectacular
fall foliage of white oaks and red maples. Merely a century ago,
much of this land had been logged or cleared for farming. First
approved as a park in 1926, Congress included the land in the
National Park System in 1936. Over intervening decades, the land
has returned to woodlands and meadows. In 1976, the National
Park Service recommended that nearly half of the park be
designated as wilderness.
5
OTIS PIKE FIRE ISLAND HIGH DUNE WILDERNESS, NEW YORK
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 1,380 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1980
This Wilderness stretches along seven miles of the eastern part of Fire
Island, a barrier island that provides a buffer between the Atlantic Ocean
and Long Island, just east of approximately 19 million people in the New
York City metro area. The wetlands and catbrier thickets provide habitat
for white tail deer, red fox and an abundance of migrating waterfowl.
This is the only federal wilderness area in the state of New York. The area
is named for former member of Congress Otis Pike, who championed
protections for Fire Island National Seashore in 1964.
FIRST
DESIGNATED
WILDERNESS
The Wilderness Society Page 13
6
JOHN MUIR AND ANSEL ADAMS WILDERNESS AREAS,
CALIFORNIA (U.S. FOREST SERVICE)
SIZE: 883,271 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1964
These two areas cover some of the most spectacular
and celebrated wilderness areas in America. Located in
Californias Sierra Nevada mountains, the two areas contain
nearly 1,000 miles of hiking trails. Both units are named
for visionaries deeply connected to Americas wilderness:
beginning in the late 19th century, John Muir, a prophetic
outdoorsman, made it his lifes work to advocate for a
national park system that would preserve wildlands. Ansel
Adams was a revered outdoors photographer and former
Governing Council member of The Wilderness Society,
whose published photographs have brought the beauty of wilderness to millions around the world.
7
DENALI NATIONAL PARK WILDERNESS,
ALASK (NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 2,124,783 ACRES
YEAR PROTECTED: 1980
At the center of the towering Alaska Range, this
wilderness contains vast mountain, tundra and
taiga landscapes. Caribou, grizzly bears and Dall
sheep are among the three dozen mammal species that inhabit these lands along with 150 bird species and more
than 400 species of owering plants. First established as a wildlife refuge in 1917, much of the land was known
as Mount McKinley National Park until its designation as wilderness in 1980. Native Athabascans used the word
Denali to describe 20,320-foot Mount McKinley, which is the highest mountain in North America.
8
GREAT SWAMP NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WILDERNESS,
NEW JERSEY (U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE)
SIZE: 3,660 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1968
Located in northern New Jersey, this wilderness was shaped into a
wetland 25,000 years ago by a receding glacier that left an immense lake.
Today, the area contains marsh and woodland that is habitat for otters,
deer and the rare bog turtle. It also serves as a vital resting and feeding
refuge for hundreds of species of migrating birds between North and
South America. Regional planners in the late 1950s had eyed this area as
a potential site for an airport that could accommodate large jet aircraft.
However, local advocates for preserving the wild area prevailed in 1960
when the area was established as a National Wildlife Refuge. It was the rst wilderness area designated within the
U.S. Department of the Interior in 1968.
9
EAGLETAIL MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS, ARIZONA
(BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT)
SIZE: 97,880 ACRES
YEAR PROTECTED: 1990
Jagged ridges and towering landmarks like Eagletail Peak
rise high above the desert plain to give these lands their
distinctive and awe-inspiring solitude. Arches, monoliths and
other geological marvels abound just 90 minutes from 6 million
people in the Phoenix metro area. The Eagletails contain
cliffs for adventurous rock climbers and a number of ancient
petroglyphs carved by native desert inhabitants who met and
traded in the Sonoran Desert thousands of years ago.
Page 14 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
10
BOUNDARY WATERS CANOE AREA, MINNESOTA
(U.S. FOREST SERVICE)
SIZE: 812,941 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1964
With more than 1,000 lakes left by receding glaciers and hundreds of
miles of streams, this northern Minnesota wilderness provides a vast
paradise for campers, anglers and hikers traveling by canoe. The area
contains 1,200 miles of canoe routes and 18 hiking trails. One of the
rst units preserved by the Wilderness Act, Boundary Waters was a
favorite of Sigurd Olson, former president and Governing Council member of The Wilderness Society, who served
as a wilderness guide in northern Minnesota for over 30 years and helped advocate for its inclusion in the National
Wilderness Preservation System.
11
PELICAN ISLAND WILDERNESS, FLORIDA
(U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE)
SIZE: 5.5 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1970
President Theodore Roosevelt set aside tiny Pelican Island as a bird haven on
March 14, 1903, ordering the rst federal land dedication to wildlife and thus
initiating the National Wildlife Refuge System. Pelican Island National Wildlife
Refuge is comprised primarily of water in the wide lagoon of the Indian River.
Human development near the shoreline currently threatens the fragile but highly
productive waters. Fifteen threatened and endangered species live here, including
manatees. A huge natural supply of sh provides food for wading birds that nest
in the area. As part of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, this wilderness
is closed to visitation to protect wildlife and other natural, cultural, and/or other resources consistent with the
conservation purpose(s) of the refuge.
12
WRNGELL-SAINT ELIAS WILDERNESS, ALASK
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 9,078,675 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 1980
Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve embodies the essence
of wild. It is a land of remote valleys, wild rivers, and an unparalleled
wildlife community that includes Dall sheep, grizzly bears, black
bears, caribou, moose, bison, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines,
beavers, coyotes, foxes, and marmots. In the north part of the park,
the glaciated peaks drop to tundra and forested uplands. In the south,
massive glaciers spread from the mountains almost to the Gulf of
Alaska. Here visitors will nd the most extensive glaciated country of
Alaska (with more than 100 glaciers), a vastly rugged land that holds
nine of North Americas 16 highest peaks (many over 16,000 feet), the 90-mile-long and 4,000-foot-thick Bagley Ice
Field (North Americas largest subpolar ice eld), and the unsurpassed Malaspina Glacier, which covers an area 50
percent larger than the state of Delaware.
13
SLEEPING BEAR DUNES WILDERNESS, MICHIGAN
(NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)
SIZE: 32,557 ACRES YEAR PROTECTED: 2014
Signed into law by President Obama on March 13, 2014, Sleeping Bear
Dunes represents a welcome break in a 5-year drought for congressional
action to protect wilderness. Located on Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear
Dunes is a popular getaway where hikers, hunters, anglers and boaters come
to experience quiet coastal backcountry. The area includes a diverse array
of natural landscapes, from the towering dunes themselves to quiet inland
lakes, beech and sugar maple forests, and rocky shorelines all important habitat for native wildlife and plants. While
the park is wonderfully water oriented, the most prominent featuresand those for which the park is namedare the
immense sand dunes that are perched atop the already towering headlands that are glacial moraines.
SMALLEST
WILDERNESS
LARGEST
WILDERNESS
NEWEST
WILDERNESS
The Wilderness Society Page 15
WILDERNESS IN A CHANGING WORLD
S
ince enactment of
the Wilderness Act,
our country and the
world have continued to
change at a rapid and
unprecedented pace.
Yet an enduring resource of
wilderness, as written in the
Act in 1964, is more important
to Americans than ever before.
According to the Outdoor Industry
Association, more than 140 million
Americans make outdoor recreation
a priority in their daily lives.
1

Technological advancements in
transportation are bringing people
further into the backcountry and
telecommuting means people are
able to live and work in more rural
places, closer to public lands. But
unless we keep pace with these
rapid changes and continue to
actively protect what we hold so
dear, our remaining wild places will
disappear. Moreover, the typical
wilderness visit is changing from
what it once was. Day use has
become the most common type of
wilderness visit, and many people
are now choosing to visit wilderness
areas closer to their home or in their
home state.
2
It is in our nations
best interest that we protect our
remaining wilderness, which provides
places to hike, hunt, camp, sh, and
escape the roar of civilization with
family and friends. Our majestic
landscapes, rich in natural beauty
and cultural signicance, have
dened our country and shaped who
we are today. But as environmental
pressures continue to mount
and our nations perspective on
wilderness continues to evolve, it
becomes more important than ever
to maintain wild places to contrast
against managed landscapesboth
to help us measure change and to
devise solutions for maintaining
a healthy environment. We must
prioritize wilderness not only in

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.

Aldo Leopold
Co-founder, The Wilderness Society
todays context, but for our country
and our people in the future.
A LIVING CLASSROOM
Wilderness areas serve as a rich and
dynamic classroom and laboratory
allowing scientists and students
to study the relative fragility and
resilience
of nature in
the face of
a changing
climate. These
wild settings
ultimately
offer us unique
opportunities
to learn how to
be responsible
stewards of the
land. Climate
change often interacts with other
ecological stressors, such as habitat
fragmentation and invasive species
to erode natural characteristics and
landscape functions. Expanding our
national system of wilderness lands
and maintaining ecological integrity
within that system are important
strategies to maintain habitat for a
diverse array of plants and animals.
As changes in climate continue to
impact our worldthrough drought,
increased re, and plant and animal
changesreserving some lands
where nature operates without
direct human control will allow
us to evaluate the effects of our
management elsewhere.
Studying nature in its most
uncontrolled state, without the
ever-increasing inuences of modern
technology, provides scientists a
broad array of baseline data that
is needed to achieve a better
understanding of how climate
change will affect our natural world,
the resources we
rely upon, and the
wild places so many
Americans enjoy.
A PREMIER HOME FOR
WILDLIFE
The legacy of the
Wilderness Act can
be measured, in
part, in the role that
these lands have
played in sustaining
healthy populations of Americas
most revered wildlife species.
Grizzly bears, wolverines, native
trout, muskoxen, caribou, jaguars,
polar bears, wolves and countless
bird species that most impressed
early settlers continue to have
enormous cultural value to First
Nations and are an irreplaceable
draw to American wildlands for
visitors from around the globe. To
thrive and survive, wildlife relies on
less disturbed, more biologically
complete landscapes in an ever-
developing, human-dominated
natural world. Today, many of our
most wildlife-abundant landscapes
are found within designated
Page 16 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
wilderness and national parks.
Without large, intact landscapes like
wilderness to sustain wildlife, our
country would most certainly have
lost a priceless and irreplaceable
part of its ecological legacy. Wildlife-
related viewing in America remains a
top indicator of the relevancy of wild
places: more than 90 million people
participated in wildlife-related
recreation in 2011, according to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
3
In an
uncertain climate future, investing
in the health and stability of our
wild places is a practical strategy for
sustaining both our ecological and
economic resiliency.
As climate change accelerates, our
most valued wildlife species will
need to roam and adapt to survive
and successfully reproduce. We
now know that these movements will
most likely be to higher elevations
or part of a steady march northward.
As wildlife ranges continue to shift,
so will the travel corridors between
these habitat areas, highlighting
another increasingly critically
important function of wilderness
in an era of changing climate
connectivity for wildlife on the move.

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must
leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a
glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.

Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States

Wilderness has proven itself to be
a successful conservation strategy
that will continue to have enormous
relevance in an uncertain climate
futureboth for wildlife and humans
alike.
SUPPLYING LIFE SUSTAINING
WATER
Wilderness areas are a signicant
contributor to the nations clean
and abundant supplies of water.
For many cities across the United
Statesincluding Phoenix, Denver,
Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle-
-wilderness areas protect vital
watersheds that sustain millions of
peoples drinking water. Wilderness
provides ecosystem services that
otherwise require expensive and
often inefcient human investment.
Healthy watershed conditions most
frequently coincide with designated
wilderness areas.
4
Moreover, a
conservative estimate of the annual
marginal value of water owing
from national forests in the United
States is $3.7 billion. Designated
National Forest wilderness areas
alone generate about 25% of the
total supply of water from Americas
national forest lands.
5

CRITICAL TO A HEALTHY
ECONOMY
Over the last 50 years, evidence
has piled high about the value
designated wilderness and other
protected lands contribute to
our economy and our quality of
life. These contributions can be
measured in a variety of ways,
including recreation uses, scientic
benets, and property values.
Since 1964, we have experienced
seven economic recessions in the
United States, yet the value of wild
places to American communities
and livelihoods has remained steady
and continues to increase. In 2011,
Americans and foreign visitors
made nearly 435 million visits to
Interior-managed lands. These visits
supported over 403,000 jobs and
contributed around $48.7 billion in
economic activity.
6
Wildlife viewing
alone generates $144.7 billion, which
equates to one percent of the Gross
Domestic Product in the United
States.
7
Technological changes are
enabling more people to choose
to live and work near protected
public lands. In 2010, per capita
income in western rural counties with
100,000 acres of protected public
lands was on average $4,360 higher
than per capita income in similar
counties with no protected public
lands.
8
Moreover, western rural
counties with more than 30 percent
of the countys land base in federal
protected status such as national
parks, monuments, wilderness, and
other similar designations increased
jobs by 345 percent over the last
The Wilderness Society Page 17
40 years.
9
In Montana, for example, more than half of 200
business owners polled said that the presence of public lands
like national parks, forests, and wildlife refuges and access to
rivers and trails were major factors in their decision to locate
a business in Montanamore than factors like tax rates,
access to raw materials, or government regulations.
10
As our
nations population continues to grow, the value of protected
places will likely increase as will the demand for amenities they
provide.
In recent years, the recreation economy has grown and
become a major contributing factor to many healthy and
sustainable local economies located near protected lands.
A 2012 study conducted by the Outdoor Industry Association
concluded that the outdoor recreation industry accounted
for 6.1 million jobs nationally, people spent $646 billion
on outdoor recreation associated goods and services and
contributed $80 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.
11

At the heart of this growing portion of our economy and
critical to its continued growth is wilderness and protected
lands. Many jobs associated with recreation on Interior lands
are located in rural communities, including 18,000 jobs in Utah,
16,000 jobs in Wyoming, 14,000 jobs in Arizona and 10,000
jobs in Colorado.
12
We now know that providing outstanding
outdoor recreation opportunities protects our economy
and the people and businesses that depend on the outdoor
recreation industry.
CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH EACH OTHER AND
THE PLANET
Our nations parks, monuments, and wilderness areas have
long been places that provide the best opportunities for
climbing iconic peaks, hunting the largest elk, and exploring
for days without encountering evidence of modern man.
Wilderness is a land of many uses, especially when it comes to
recreation. Today, depending on the wilderness area and the
time of year one may nd people riding horses, rock climbing,
hunting, shing, skiing, camping, kayaking or trying to capture
that once-in-a-lifetime photograph. While our wildlands serve
as a playground for millions of people each year, too many
Americansespecially our youngest generationsare plugged
into an outlet rather than the natural environment around
them. The average American boy or girl spends as few as 30
minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day, and more
than seven hours each day in front of an electronic screen.
13

It may be no coincidence that the CDC reports childhood
obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in
adolescents in the past 30 years.
14
Exposing our children to
public lands and open spaceswhether the wilds of a national
park, backyard garden, or a community forestwill begin to
improve the physical and mental health of Americas youth,
turning around trends in obesity, reliance on anti-depressants,
and lack of connection to peers, family, and schoolwork.
15
In
an age of smart phones, video games, social media and high-
def television, experiences in wild nature can help Americans
enjoy the outdoors in a way that rejuvenates them, reconnects
young and old to our natural world, and helps citizens develop
into the next generation of conservation leaders.
Page 18 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
TOO WILD TO LOSE: PRIORITY
PLACES AWAITING PROTECTION
F
or most of the past half-century, Congress has heeded the calls of
the American people to protect important lands for the benet and
enjoyment of future generations. Today, public support for wilderness is strong, as
evidenced by the more than two dozen locally-crafted, home-grown bills to protect new wilderness areas
still pending before the House and Senate. Yet recently, Congress has turned its back on Americans from
across the country who wish to see their favorite places protected.
In celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, The Wilderness Society is calling on Congress
to renew its commitment to protecting wilderness by passing legislation to protect our great wild legacy
from coast to coast.
Most of these bipartisan bills have languished on Capitol Hill for yearssome as long as a decadedue
to political partisanship and ideological disputes. Protecting wilderness has never beenand should
not becomea partisan issue. These are lands owned by, and managed for, all Americans. We owe it to
future generations to ensure that these lands are cared for and preserved for everyone to enjoy.
The following are just a few of the priority places Congress should protect as wilderness. [For the full
list of bills awaiting passage, visit www.wilderness.org.] In this 50th anniversary year, there is no better
way to celebrate our nations commitment to an enduring resource of wilderness than to permanently
protect these deserving and emblematic lands with the Wilderness Act.
1 2
3
4
5
8
7
6
10
9
11
12
Designated
Wilderness
The Wilderness Society Page 19
TOO WILD TO LOSE: PRIORITY
PLACES AWAITING PROTECTION
PLACE: Coastal Islands, Maine
LEGISLATION: Maine Coastal
Islands Wilderness Act
The Maine Coastal Islands
Wilderness Act (H.R. 1808),
sponsored by Rep. Michael Michaud,
would designate as wilderness 13
islands off the rugged coast of
northern New England. The bill would
help provide habitat for a wide variety
of migratory seabirds, waterfowl,
wading birds, shorebirds, songbirds,
and raptors, as well as hosting a
diversity of plants and other wildlife.
In addition to wildlife restoration
and conservation, wilderness islands
would provide Maine citizens and
tourists opportunities for hiking,
photography, wildlife viewing,
picnicking, camping and hunting,
contributing signicantly to the local
economies up and down the coast.
With enthusiastic partners in the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and the
Friends of Maine Seabird Islands,
The Wilderness Society has built a
compelling case for protection under
the Wilderness Act. When passed,
this designation will help to further
elevate the prole of these unique
coastal islands and boost tourism
in Maine, where an active outdoor
economy generates roughly $3 billion
annually in retail sales and services
across the state.
It often
comes as a
surprise to
some that
many of the
publically
owned islands
off Maines
coast,
including
the majority
of the islands that would be
designated by the Maine Coastal
Islands Wilderness Act, are open to
waterfowl hunting. As sportsmen
and women, we understand the
importance of preserving these
unique islands for future generations
for hunters, anglers, and other
outdoor enthusiasts.
Scott Hess
Attorney
Pittson, Maine
1
Page 20 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
PLACE: Rocky Mountain Front, Montana
LEGISLATION: The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act
The Rocky Mountain Front is a key piece of Montanas Crown of the Continent
region, where the majestic limestone contours of the Rocky Mountains give way to
lake-dotted plains. The region is a mix of prairie, forest and alpine habitats and stands among
the countrys most biologically diverse, hosting growing grizzly bear populations and huge herds
of bighorn sheep, elk and mule deer. The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act (S. 364) would
designate 67,000 acres of this game-rich region as additions to the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Complex. The measure also designates 208,000 acres as a Conservation Management Areaa
locally developed designation that would prohibit road building and limit motorized recreation
and establishes new requirements for federal agencies regarding management of noxious weeds
on the Front. Biologists say the region is critical habitat for numerous game populations. The Rocky Mountain Front is widely
considered a hunters paradise, where the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department estimates that sportsmen spent a
stable $10 million annually from 2006 through 2010 during hunting season.
My family has been ranching here for 128 years and the Heritage Act will help protect the Fronts wild lands and working
landscapes for generations to come.
Karl Rappold
Dupuyer, Montana
2
The Wilderness Society Page 21
PLACE: Kootenai, Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Lolo National Forests, Montana
LEGISLATION: Forest Jobs and Recreation Act
The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act (S. 37) would permanently protect over 600,000 acres as wilderness amid
nearly one million total protected acres in three national forests in Montana. This includes additions to the Bob
Marshall Wilderness, which would add protection to the cherished Crown of the Continent region, one of the
last truly wild ecosystems in the continental United States. The Forest Jobs and
Recreation Act is the product of hard-working Montanans from all walks of life
hunters, hikers and anglers, loggers and conservationists, outtters and business
owners. Seventy-two percent of Montanans support the Forest Jobs and Recreation
Act because it will not only create jobs and support local economies, it will protect
places important to local communities for outdoor recreation and scenic beauty.
Theres only one thing better than watching a big trout rise to a dry yand thats
cooperation. The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act will protect some of Montanas best
trout streams and keep our outdoor traditions strong for future generations.
Tim and Joanne Linehan
Owners of Linehan Outtting Company
Yaak, Montana
3
PLACE: Boulder-White Clouds,
Idaho
LEGISLATION: Central Idaho
Economic Development and
Recreation Act
First proposed for protection in the
1960s, the Boulder-White Clouds
represent the single largest intact,
unprotected landscape in the lower 48
states. The area is known for its majestic
rocky peaks, picturesque lakes and
bountiful wildlife. Species native to the
area include black bears, big horn sheep,
mountain goats, mountain lions and elk;
sportsmen have supported efforts to
protect this area for years. The area also
contains the headwaters of the East Fork
of the Salmon River, and key tributaries
of the Big Wood River, Big Lost River
and Salmon River. The Central Idaho
Economic Development and Recreation
Act (H.R. 145) would protect more than
333,000 acres in and around the Boulder
and White Cloud mountain ranges under
the Wilderness Act. Rep. Mike Simpson
(R-ID) has sponsored this legislation
for ten years but it remains stalled in
Congress despite strong support from
local sportsmen and women, business
interests, and other backcountry
enthusiasts.
Simply put,
the Boulder
White-Clouds
are way off the
beaten path.
As an outtter
on the Middle
Fork of the
Salmon, I
backpack
there often to
get away from
it all. I hope we can see this incredible
area protected for many years to come.
James Ellsworth
Owner, Middle Fork River Expeditions
Stanley, Idaho
Page 22 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
4
The Wilderness Society Page 23
PLACE: Alpine Lakes, Washington
LEGISLATION: Alpine Lakes
Wilderness Additions and the
Pratt and Middle Fork Snoqualmie
Rivers Protection Act
The Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions
and the Pratt and Middle Fork
Snoqualmie Rivers Protection Act (S.
112/H.R. 361) would add 22,000 acres
of wilderness to the existing Alpine
Lakes Wilderness Area, a popular
tourist attraction, and add 40 miles of
the Pratt and Snoqualmie Rivers to the
National Wild and Scenic River System.
The river areas proposed for protection
are premier whitewater rafting,
kayaking and shing destinations
and would represent one of the rst
wild and scenic river designations in
Washingtons central Cascades region.
The forest range proposed for new
wilderness protection is home to a
diversity of wildlife including mountain
lions, black bears and elk.
My dad began
taking my
brother and
me shing and
hunting when
we were young,
so I grew up
in a family that
understood
the importance
of wild places
especially close to population centers,
where families can go hike, sh and
camp without having to spend a great
deal of money or drive long distances
from home. And now my son and
daughter will have the privilege of
enjoying this land as well. I am proud to
support this legislation and to have had
the chance to work with Congressman
Reichert as this legislation makes its way
through the process. The nal product
is one we can all be proud of.
Reagan Dunn
Councilmember
King County, Washington
5
Page 24 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
PLACE: Pine Grove Hills, Nevada
LEGISLATION: Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act
The Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act (S. 159/H.R. 696) would designate the Wovoka
Wilderness, Lyon Countys last major stretch of roadless wild land. The proposed wilderness is named after the
Northern Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka, who lived in the Smith Valley just outside the proposed wilderness. This
legislation would designate approximately 48,000 acres of central Nevadas Pine Grove Hills as wilderness, protecting
popular y-shing spots and habitat containing sage grouse, bighorn sheep and other wildlife. Situated between the
Sweetwater Mountains and Wassuk Range, the Pine Grove Hillsthe southern portion of which comprises the proposed
wilderness area--also feature world-class archaeological resources including ancient game-hunting drive fences,
petroglyphs, and spear points and tools.
I cant imagine living without the solitude and spiritual uplift I nd in the
outback of the Northern Great Basin. Over the years, as a teacher, I took
many of my students 8th graders through college into the Nevada
outback to explore and to build their appreciation for this incredible
environment. I see wilderness designation as our only hope of preserving
these places that have done so much to enrich my life and to preserve them
for the enlightenment of future generations of Nevadans.
Steve Pellegrini
Retired biology teacher,
5th generation Nevadan
Mason Valley, Nevada
6
The Wilderness Society Page 25
PLACE: Pine Forest Range,
Nevada
LEGISLATION: Pine
Forest Range Recreation
Enhancement Act
The Pine Forest Range Recreation
Enhancement Act (S. 342/H.R. 433)
would protect 26,000 acres of wilderness
in northwest Nevadas Pine Forest
Range, combining the Blue Lakes and
Alder Creek Wilderness Study Areas. The
legislation would connect crucial habitat
for pronghorn antelope, mule deer, sage
grouse and bighorn sheep and has long
been a destination for anglers, hunters
and outdoor enthusiasts. The foothills of
the range border the Black Rock Desert
and the peaks ascend to over 9,000
feet in elevation, supporting the only
alpine lakes in remnant glacial cirques
found in this part of the state. This bill
would ensure the lands are managed
in a way that protects traditional and
historic uses, such as ranching, access
for shing, hunting, camping, and other
forms of outdoor recreation, as well as
allow for appropriate re management.
It maintains open roads important to off-
highway vehicle users while conserving
the areas unique solitude.
7
Page 26 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
PLACE: Browns Canyon,
Colorado
LEGISLATION: Browns Canyon
National Monument and
Wilderness Act of 2013
The Browns Canyon National Monument
and Wilderness Act of 2013 (S. 1794),
would establish the 22,000-acre Browns
Canyon National Monument in Chaffee
County and preserve this unique natural
and economic resource for future
generations. The proposal includes
10,500 acres of new wilderness and
seeks to protect the most popular rafting
destination in the country. Hundreds
of thousands of visitors travel through
the canyon every year to raft or sh this
exciting stretch of the Arkansas River. The
area also provides outstanding habitat for
deer and elk, and sweeping views of the
Collegiate Peaks and the Arkansas Valley.
Love of our
land was a
prime motivator
behind my
military career,
and love of our
land continues
to motivate
me today.
Americans have
long valued
a high level
of protection for the best of our public
lands owned by us all in equal share.
This is a value I deeply cherish, and I see
protecting Browns Canyon as in keeping
with that long-held value.
Keith Baker
Commander, United States Navy (retired)
Buena Vista, Colorado
8
The Wilderness Society Page 27
PLACE: Hermosa Creek Watershed, Colorado
LEGISLATION: Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act
The Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act (S. 841/H.R. 1839) would designate 108,000 acres as a
special management area that includes 38,000 acres of wilderness in southwest Colorados San Juan National Forest. The
watershedcritical to the town of Durango and surrounding communitiescontains 17 distinct ecosystems, encompasses
the largest unprotected roadless area in the southern Rocky Mountains, and serves as habitat for elk, Canada lynx and
other wildlife. Hermosa Creeks rugged beauty and large trail system entices countless hikers, mountain bikers, hunters,
horseback users, and other outdoor enthusiasts.
Through the Hermosa Creek Workgroup process, dozens of public meetings were held to
collaboratively formulate recommendations for how best to protect the watershed. Local and
regional support for protecting Hermosa Creek extends to local governments, businesses,
ranchers, mountain bikers, hunting and shing interests, and motorized recreationists.
High quality water is clearly the most valuable resource we can get from our public lands.
The Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act balances various types of low impact recreation
in a way that insures the water will remain clean and safe. Local user groups set aside their
stringent ideologies so they could contribute to the partnership, which resulted in this
precedent-setting legislative proposal.
Ed Zink
Rancher, outtter
Durango, Colorado
9
Page 28 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
PLACE: San Juan Mountains, Colorado
LEGISLATION: San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act
The San Juan Mountains Wilderness Act (S. 341) would expand existing wilderness areas and protect a diverse
portion of southwestern Colorados landscape, including soaring mountain peaks, old growth spruce and r forests and mid-
elevation desert lands. Introduced by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO), the bill would safeguard more than 60,000 acres, including
32,000 acres of wilderness, and preserve one of Colorados most beloved outdoor recreation areas. Backpacking, hunting
and shing, and back country skiing are just some of the world-class opportunities provided on these lands. These stunning
mountains provide premier views and safeguard water supplies for the towns of Telluride, Ouray and Silverton.
10
The Wilderness Society Page 29 Page 29 Too Wild to Lose
PLACE: Columbine Hondo, Northern New Mexico
LEGISLATION: Columbine Hondo Wilderness Act
The Columbine Hondo Wilderness Act would designate 45,000-acres as permanently protected wilderness
deep in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. Located outside the towns of Taos, Questa and
Red River, it is a recreation haven, attracting hikers, hunters, anglers, horseback riders and wildlife lovers. The area
serves as home for elk, deer, mountain lion, black bear, and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and is critical habitat for
the endangered Rio Grande cutthroat trout. The area contains the headwaters of the Rio Hondo and Red River, both
major tributaries of the Rio Grande on which so many New Mexicans rely for water. The area has been under ofcial
consideration as a potential wilderness area for more than 30 years.
The steep Columbine Hondo mountains tower above our little villages and towns in Taos
County as a daily reminder of our deepest root of existence and the source of life and
prosperity, our Earth. The support for Columbine Hondo Wilderness represents a highly
evolved process of community solidarity where people set aside political differences to
express a common value in relation to ecosystems, economics, spirit, and physical well-being,
as the highest expression for the sustainability of our beautiful home here in Northern New
Mexico. This process has been a great joy to witness.
Roberta Salazar
Wildlife biologist, Executive Director and Founder of Rivers & Birds
Arroyo Seco, New Mexico
11
Page 30 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
PLACE: Cherokee
National Forest,
Tennessee
LEGISLATION:
Tennessee
Wilderness Act
The Tennessee Wilderness Act
(S. 1294) would protect almost
20,000 acres of the Cherokee
National Forest in eastern
Tennessee, considered one of the
most biologically diverse temperate
forests on earth. It would create
the states rst new wilderness
area in 25 years, adding acreage
to ve existing wilderness areas
and creating the new Upper Bald
River Wilderness. The latter would
stretch across a little more than
9,000 acres and complete the
protective designation of the Bald
River watershed, a wooded region
renowned for its solitude as well as
opportunities for hunting, angling
and other outdoor recreation. The
Upper Bald River plays a vital role
in the economic vitality of Monroe
County.
As a
medical
professional,
and now as
someone
who lives
close to
the Upper
Bald River
Wilderness
Study
Area, I know just how critical it
is to protect these watersheds
for the value of clean water - we
all live downstream. As a Board
Member of the Benton MacKaye
Trail Association, I support the
Tennessee Wilderness Act knowing
that it will also provide hikers of
future generations the primitive
experience of passing through
this spectacular area. Our trail
shares a heritage with wilderness-
-named for one of the founders
of The Wilderness Societyso its
only tting that our footpath for
future generations to follow passes
through these special areas.
Richard Harris
Pediatric Oncologist
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
12
SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS,
CALIFORNIA
SIZE: APPROXIMATELY 530,000
ACRES
Rising high above Los Angeles,
the spectacular San Gabriel
Mountains are a dramatic landmark
in the Angeles and San Bernardino
National Forests. The San Gabriels
are within an hours drive of more
than 15 million people in Southern
California, making these mountains
the regions most accessible and
popular backyard for those who
visit. The San Gabriel Mountains
are also an irreplaceable natural
resource. The Angeles National
Forest gives Los Angeles County
WILD FOR THE FUTURE
T
he United States has
more than 600 million
acres of federally-owned
land that belong to all
Americans. While nearly 110
million acres are preserved forever
as part of the National Wilderness
Preservation System, many
more are still without protection
from development. Defending
unprotected wild areas is one of
the most important things that The
Wilderness Society does. Once an
area is drilled, mined, logged or
otherwise fragmented, it is very hard
to get its wild character back.
The Wilderness Society aims to drive
development away from our most
important wildlands so they may
qualify for permanent protection
down the road and be enjoyed by
future generations. We reach that
goal in different ways, whether
we are working through a land
management plan, encouraging
the closure of redundant motorized
routes, or supporting the creation of
a national monument. The following
are special places that deserve a
higher level of protection.
The Wilderness Society Page 31
Page 32 Wilderness: Our Enduring American Legacy
I volunteer at a nature center at the
base of the mountains, just 20 minutes
from Los Angeles. It always surprises
and saddens me that so many children
I take on tours are seeing a little bit of
nature here for the rst time. I show
them native plants, birds and reptiles,
we take walks on the trails to experience
the outdoors and the creek. If you could
see the look on the faces of these kids:
They always tell me they cant wait to
come back.
Brenda Kyle
San Gabriel Mountains Forever
Leadership Academy graduate
Duarte, California
more than 70% of its open space
and more than one-third of its
drinking water. The range also
provides habitat for rare and
endangered species, and its legacy
includes important historic and
Native American cultural resources.
Located so close to a massive
metropolitan area, the San Gabriel
Mountains endure ongoing and
signicant threats, such as heavy
recreational impacts and the
demand for open space and clean
waterways on one of the nations
busiest national forests.
The Wilderness Society is a
lead partner in San Gabriel
Mountains Forever (SGMF)a
diverse partnership of residents,
cities, business owners, faith and
community leaders, health and
environmental justice organizations,
and recreation and conservation
groups. Two main goals of the
partnership focus on advocating
for permanent protection for
approximately 530,000 acres of
national forest lands and building
a diverse legacy of environmental
stewards to care for them in the
future.
The Wilderness Society Page 33
BIRTHPLACE OF RIVERS, WEST
VIRGINIA
SIZE: 122,000 ACRES
Adjacent to West Virginias existing
Cranberry Wilderness, the largest
national forest wilderness in the
Eastern United States, the 122,000-
acre proposed Birthplace of Rivers
National Monument contains a
broad diversity of eastern deciduous
and coniferous forest types, several
headwater streams, and unique
bogs containing the southern-most
remnant species from the last ice
age. Located on the Monongahela
National Forest, this ecological and
recreational treasure lies only four
hours west of Washington D.C., and
is located within a days drive of 1/3
of the nations population. A recent
economic study demonstrated that
a monument designation would
have a signicant positive impact on
the regions economy. The area is a
cultural icon to West Virginians and
is highly prized by regional hunters
and anglers.
The continued push for resource
extraction in this part of the
Appalachians and the ongoing
risks from industrial development
along the regions rivers magnies
the need for additional protection
for this irreplaceable wild
watershed. The Wilderness Society
is supporting the local coalition
with strategic communications
and outreach support to ensure
community voices are heard.
Our federal
forest lands in
West Virginia
provide vast
amounts of
clean drinking
water for the
mid-Atlantic
states.
Current
protection of
these springs,
streams and
watersheds falls short of our long-term
sustainable needs. As a local business
owner, Im committed to better
protecting these special places for the
future of this region.
Gil Willis
Owner, Elk River Inn & Restaurant
Slaty Fork, West Virginia
OTERO MESA, NEW MEXICO
SIZE: 1.2 MILLION ACRES
Otero Mesa, tucked away near the
Texas border in southeast New
Mexico, is an expansive grassland
that safeguards an archaeological
treasure trove and important
wildlife habitat for big game,
earning it the title of Serengeti
of the Southwest. Prairie dogs,
pronghorn antelope, mule deer,
mountain lions, and more than 200
bird species call the area home.
Its the largest intact Chihuahuan
desert grassland left in the United
States as well as being home to
centuries of American history.
Artifacts ranging from ancestral
American Indians to the remnants
of westward wagon trains are all
found on Otero Mesa. In addition,
a large freshwater aquifer beneath
Otero Mesa represents a valuable
potential water source for New
Mexicans. Many national, regional
and local partnersincluding New
Mexico Wildlife Federation, New
Mexico Wilderness Association,
the Mescalero Apache tribe and
othersinterested in the areas
wilderness, wildlife and cultural
and historical resources for more
than a decade have been ghting
to keep Otero Mesa protected. In
its current planning process, BLM
is considering designating a large
portion of Otero Mesa as an area
of critical environmental concern.
The agency is also evaluating the
wilderness qualities of Otero Mesa
and can manage lands for their
wilderness values. These approaches
would keep Otero Mesa safe for
future generations.
Wild places are an important
source of wonder and inspiration
in my life. Having and taking
advantage of access to wilderness
shapes my values, gives me
sanctuary for recreation, makes
me mindful of how my actions are
a part of the world as a whole,
and connects me with people in a
safe, non-judgmental space. In this
age of fast-paced communication,
growth, and change in our society, I
think that it is particularly important
to preserve wilderness areas and
encourage Americans to see, feel,
touch, and play in the amazing
natural resources that are our wild
areas.
Adina Scott
Adina Scott (far right) is a member
of Expedition Denali. Led by the
National Outdoor Leadership School,
Expedition Denali was the rst African
American team to set out to summit
Denali. Since the expedition, the
team members have been traveling
the country, speaking about their
experience and inspiring youth
of color to get outside and chase
their own Denali-sized dreams. Also
pictured: Rosemary Saal (l), Erica
Wynn (c).
DUNOIR, FRNCS PEAK AND WOOD RIVER
SHOSHONE NATIONAL FOREST, WYOMING
SIZE: 144,000 ACRES
Americas rst national forest, the 2.4
million-acre Shoshone is part of the world-
renowned Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
With terrain ranging from rocky, snow-
capped peaks to sagebrush ats and lush
river valleys, the Shoshone is home to mule
deer, elk, moose, grizzly bears and other
sensitive species and outstanding trout
habitat. Unfortunately, poorly managed
off-road vehicle (ORV)/mechanized use
threatens the solitude and wild habitat of
some of the Shoshones last unprotected
wildlands. Motorized/mechanized use can
scare off wildlife, disrupt elk and grizzly
bears, as well as fragment wildlife habitat
and contribute to erosion.
The Wilderness Society, along with
coalition partners, is asking the Forest
Service to specically recommend the
Dunoir Special Management Unit and
the Francs Peak and Wood River roadless
areas as wilderness in its forest plan
revision process. Unfortunately, the Forest
Services proposed plan opens the Dunoir
to mechanized use and signicant areas of
both the Francs Peak and Wood River areas
to motorized use. The Wilderness Society
has led formal objections to this plan, and
will ght to keep motorized/mechanized
use out of these sensitive landscapes.
CIBOLA NATIONAL FOREST, NEW MEXICO
SIZE: 1.2 MILLION ACRES
The Sky Islands of New Mexicos Cibola
National Forest host more than 200 rare
plants and animals. These jagged peaks
rise out over the plains of the Rio Grande
watershed in central New Mexico, and
provide habitat for Mexican spotted owls,
mountain lions, bear and elk. Other parts
of the Cibola hold ancient artifacts of
American Indian civilizations, like the Sandia
Man Cave, containing relics from the last
ice age including bones from long-extinct
mastodons.
Unfortunately, these amazing natural
and cultural resources are threatened
by irresponsible ORV use in the Cibola
National Forest. The Wilderness Society is
working with the Forest Service to improve
and revise regulations for ORV use on the
forest and engaging volunteers to inventory
roadless areas and evaluate them for their
wilderness qualities, wildlife and recreation.
IMAGES:
INSIDE COVER
(page 2) West Fork, Little Colorado River, Mt. Baldy Wilderness Area. Photo: Mark Miller
REFLECTIONS ON 1964
(page 4) Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness. All photos: National Park Service
A VISION FOR TOMORROW
(page 5 backdrop) Scapegoat Wilderness on the Helena National Forest, Montana. Photo:
Brandan W. Schulze
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
(page 6) Little friends venture into Pine Mountain Wilderness, Arizona. Photo: Katurah Mackay
(page 7) Bob Marshall Wilderness. Photo by: Jeff L Fox
BACKBONE OF THE AMERICAN SPIRIT
(page 8 top left) Bob Marshall. Photo: Wilderness.net
(page 8 top center) Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir on Glacier Point, Yosemite Valley,
California, in 1903. Photo: Underwood & Underwood, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Division Washington, D.C.
(page 8 top right) Ladies around the campre. Photo: Joseph J. Kirkbride
(page 8) Yosemite Valley Sunset. Painting by Albert Bierstadt
(page 9 top left) President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Wilderness Act and the Land and Water
Conservation Fund Act, September 3, 1964. LBJ Library Photo: Cecil Stoughton
(page 9 top right) Founders of The Wilderness Society. Photo: United States Forest Service,
Region 5
(page 9 top center) l to r: Howard Zahniser, Mardie Murie and Olaus Murie. Photo: Wilderness.net
(page 9 lower right) Shelton Johnson. Photo: National Park Service
(page 10 top) American hunting scenes A good chance. Print by Currier & Ives
(page 10 top center) Arthur Carhart. Photo: Wilderness.net
(page 10 right and inset) Hiking in the John Muir Wilderness Area. Photos Elias Butler
Photography
THE NATIONAL WILDERNESS PRESERVATION SYSTEM TODAY
(page 11) Meadow Creek Campre, Scapegoat Wilderness. Photo: U.S. Forest Service, Brandan
W. Schulze
(page 12) TRCA Florida Bay Flamingo Canoe Trail. Photo: National Park Service
(page 12) Gila Wilderness. Photo: United States Forest Service
(page 12) Autumn in Shenandoah National Park. Photo: National Park Service
(page 12) Remains of the old Burma Road at Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness. Photo:
Diane Abell
(page 13) John Muir Wilderness Area. Photo Elias Butler Photography
(page 13) Denali National Park Wilderness, Savage River Drainage. Photo: Paxson Woelber
(page 13) Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Buttery, Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Photo:
Steven Reynolds, ickr
(page 13) Eagletail Mountains Wilderness Area petroglyph panel. Photo: Mark Miller
(page 14) Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. Photo: Greg Walters, ickr
(page 14) Pelican Silhouette, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
(page 14) Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Wilderness. Photo: National Park Service
(page 14) Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness. Photo: National Park Service
WILDERNESS IN A CHANGING WORLD
(page 15 top) Madison River, Gallatin National Forest. Photo: Anne Rockhold
(page 15 center) A young bear cub, Rocky Mountain Front, Montana. Photo: Robert Granzow
(page 16) Youth hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Photo: Neil Shader
(page 17 top and center) Aspenwood funding is helping The Wilderness Society put teams of
researchers in the Bob Marshall Wilderness to study the resilience of forests protected by the
Wilderness Act. Photo: Starrett Artists, LLC / www.starrettartists.com
(page 17, bottom) A Student Conservation Association trail crew, sponsored in part by The
Wilderness Society, moves a log out of the trail in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho.
Photo: John McCarthy
(page 17 right) Climate research is ongoing in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Photo: Travis Belote,
Ph.D.
TOO WILD TO LOSE: PRIORITY PLACES AWAITING PROTECTION
(page 19 center left) Pufns landing, Maine Coastal Islands. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(page 19 center right) Watching for predators, Maine Coastal Islands. Photo: Rosie Walunas, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
(page 19 bottom) Marshall Island, Maine. Photo: Jeremy Sheaffer
(page 20 top) Rocky Mountain Front. Photo: Jeff Van Tine
(page 20 bottom) Traditional recreation like horseback riding is popular on the Rocky Mountain
Front. Photo: Montana Wilderness Association
(page 21 large) Fishing in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Photo: Scott Brennan
(page 21 small) The Swan Front, as seen here from Rainy Lake, is proposed for addition to the Bob
Marshall Wilderness. Photo: Starrett Artists, LLC / www.starrettartists.com
(page 22 top) Tent pitched near Pika Lake, Boulder-White Clouds. Photo: Ed Cannady
Photography
(page 22 right) Boulder-White Clouds, East Fork Salmon River. Photo: Ed Cannady Photography
(page 23 top). Middle Fork, Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Photo: Monty VanderBilt, ickr
(page 23 middle left) The Neighbors, Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Photo by: Jeff P, ickr
(page 23 middle right) Robin Area Panorama, Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Photo: Jeff P, ickr
(page 23 bottom left) Pratt Trail, Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Photo: Monty VanderBilt, ickr
(page 24 top) The Pine Grove Hills region, Nevada. Photo: Kurt Kuznicki
(page 24 bottom) The proposed Wovoka Wilderness. Photo: Kurt Kuznicki
(page 24 bottom right) Two bighorn rams square off. Photo: P. Gower, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
(page 25 top) Alder Creek, Pine Forest Range. Photo: Brian Beffort/Friends of Nevada Wilderness
(page 25 middle) Blue Lake Wilderness Study Area, Pine Forest Range. Photo: Brian Beffort/
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
(page 25 bottom right) Greater sage grouse. Photo: Jeanne Stafford, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(page 25 bottom left) Sunset at Pine Lake, Pine Forest Range. Photo: United States Geological
Survey
(page 26 main) Arkansas River rafting, Browns Canyon. Photo: John Fielder
(page 26 bottom left) Browns Canyon. Photo: John Fielder
(page 27 middle left) Mountain biker, Hermosa Creek. Photo: Jeff Widen
(page 27 middle right) Hermosa Creek aerial view. Photo: Jeff Widen
(page 27 bottom) Hermosa Creek conuence. Photo: Jeff Widen
(page 28) San Juan Mountains, Ice Lakes Basin. Photo: John Fielder
(page 29) A group enjoys the views from Columbine Hondo. Photo: Roberta Salazar
(page 30 center) The Upper Bald River. Photo: Bill Hodge
(page 30, bottom left) Winter trees in Big Laurel Branch Wilderness. Photo: Bill Hodge
(page 30, bottom right) A SAWS Crew removes a tree from the Benton MacKaye Trail. Photo: Bill
Hodge
WILD FOR THE FUTURE
(page 31, top right) Mt. San Antonio and Pine Mountain in the San Gabriel Mountains, California.
Photo 2010 Michael Gordon/www.Michael-Gordon.com
(page 31, bottom right) West Fork, San Gabriel River. Photo 2010 Michael Gordon/www.
Michael- Gordon.com
(page 32, right) Kens Creek, Cranberry Wilderness. Photo: Mike Costello/WV Wilderness Coalition
(page 33, top center) A loggerhead shrike, Otero Mesa. Photo: NMWA
(page 33, right) Expedition Denali participants. Photo http://www.hudsonhenry.com/ Hudson
Henry Photography
(page 34, right) Wyoming Range. Photo: Dave Showalter
End Notes:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 http://www.nwf.org/be-out-there/why-be-out-there.aspx
2 Ibid
3 USDA Forest Service (2010). National Visitor Use Monitoring Results USDA Forest Service
National Summary Report. Data collected FY 2005 through FY 2009.
4 Feuchter, R. (1980). Off-road vehicle use: The U.S. Forest Service Perspective. In R. Andrews
and P. Novak (Eds.), Off-road Vehicle Use: A Management Challenge (pp.143-147). Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan.
5 http://www.fs.fed.us/openspace/fote/national_forests_on_the_edge.html
6 http://www.wilderness.net/nwps/threatsOveruse
7 http://www.fs.fed.us/publications/policy-analysis/unmanaged-recreation-position-paper.pdf
8 http://headwaterseconomics.org/wphw/wp-content/uploads/West_Is_Best_Full_Report.pdf
9 ibid
10 http://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/docs%5CEconomic2013ShutdownReport_Final_
nrss_VSE.pdf
11http://wilderness.org/sites/default/les/wilderness_newsroom_toolsfactsheets_
forestsandpubliclands_AI_060512_factsheet1.pdf
12http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/conservation/habitat_handbook/documents/2004EffectsofR
oadsonWildlifeandHabitats.pdf
13 USFS, 2000, Final EIS on Roadless Area Conservation, p. 3-21.
WILDERNESS IN A CHANGING WORLD
1 http://outdoorindustry.org/pdf/OIA_OutdoorRecEconomyReport2012.pdf
2 http://www.wilderness.net/nwps/threatsOveruse
3 http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/2011_Survey.htm
4http://wilderness.org/sites/default/les/wilderness_newsroom_toolsfactsheets_
forestsandpubliclands_AI_060512_factsheet1.pdf
5 http://www.wilderness.net/nwps/documents/fs/chiefs-long-water.pdf
6 http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/loader.cfm?csModule=security/
getle&pageid=308931
7 https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/fhw11-ca.pdf
8 http://headwaterseconomics.org/wphw/wp-content/uploads/West_Is_Best_Full_Report.pdf
9 ibid
10 www.businessformontanasoutdoors.org
11 http://outdoorindustry.org/advocacy/recreation/economy.html
12 http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/loader.cfm?csModule=security/
getle&pageid=308931
13 Hofferth, Sandra and John Sandberg (1999), Changes in American Childrens Time, 1981-
1997, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.
14 http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
15 http://www.nwf.org/pdf/Be%20Out%20There/MindBodySpirit_FactSheet_May2010.pdf
wilderness.org/
enduringlegacy
Our mission is to protect
wilderness and inspire
Americans to care for our
wild places.
1615 M Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
wilderness.org (202) 833-2300
For more information please contact:
Kate Mackay, Communications Director, Wildlands Designations
(602) 571-2603
[email protected]

Michael Reinemer, Communications Manager, Wildlands Designations
(202) 429-3949
[email protected]

Alan Rowsome, Senior Director, Government Relations for Lands
(202) 429-2643
[email protected]
Jeremy Garncarz, Senior Director, Wildlands Designations
(970) 247-8788
[email protected]
Our mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.
JUNE 2014
Cover photo: Anne Rockhold