In today's Know Your Mission
video, we're going to take a
walk on the wild side. And just
like that time you forgot your
map and had to spend forever
figuring out where you are, the
title of today's act maybe just
as long as it took for you to
get out of the woods. Today,
we'll be looking at, "an act to
establish a National Wilderness
Preservation system for the
permanent good of all people
and for other purposes."
Otherwise known by its short
title, The Wilderness Act. The
Wilderness Act was signed into
law by President Lyndon Johnson
in 1964 with bipartisan support.
Some ideas really are that good.
So what is The Wilderness Act?
Where did it all start?
Let's talk about America and the long, long ago,
before the passage of the Wilderness Act.
At the beginning of the 20th century, rapid
settlement industrialization
and the advent of the
automobile consuming natural
resources and the land itself
at an astonishing rate.
The notion of the vanishing
frontier lay the seeds of
wilderness preservation in the
United States. It is no
accident that the movement to
set aside wilderness areas
began to gain real momentum at
the precise time the
lamentations about the passing
frontier reached their peak to
protect wilderness was a very
real sense to protect the
nation's most sacred story of
origin. Americans were becoming
consumers by the 1950s. Public
lands were not valued for their
beauty, inspiration, or as homes
for wildlife. They were seen as
a source of natural resources
like lumber, minerals, water
and power fueling the
development boom. Within just
one hundred years Americans had
altered the landscape in ways
never thought possible. By
early generations of Americans,
many people began to fear for
our remaining wild lands
galvanized by catastrophic
losses, precious places,
declining air and water quality,
loss of native species, and
growing interest in preserving
our natural heritage. Our story
of origin the wilderness
movement went mainstream. Many
individuals and grassroot
organizations were fighting for
a new type of protection for
federal lands. An antidote to
the increasing population,
expanding settlement and
growing mechanization. In 1935
the Wilderness Society was born
well-known figures like Aldo
Leopold, Robert Marshall and
Mardy Murie were early leaders
and members of the society. So
what were they fighting for?
Let's go back to the first
thing I said. The wilderness
that created a national
wilderness preservation system
for the good of all people.
Seems simple enough, right?
A system of protected federal
lands. But where where is it
and who's managing it? That's
where things get interesting.
The National Wilderness
Preservation System is made up
of congressionally designated
wilderness federal lands
managed by four agencies the
Bureau of Land Management, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S.
Forest Service, the National
Park Service. Since 1964, with
the passage of the Wilderness
Act, National Voters
Preservation System has grown
from nine point one million
acres to one hundred and eleven
point four million acres. Today
all but six states in the
nation have wilderness
designated and protected within.
Congress was specific in defining
what wilderness is. The Act
states that, "a wilderness in
contrast to those areas where
man and his works dominate the
landscape, is an area where the
Earth and its community of life
are untrammeled by man where
man himself is a visitor who
does not remain." Let me say
that again, where earth is
untrammeled by man. Did you
think I said untrampled? Nope,
I didn't. I said untrammeled.
This quality, the untrammeled
quality, it's the wild and
wilderness. So what does it
mean? Untrammeled is a seldom
used word with a powerful
meaning. Polly Dyer, an
environmental activist fighting
for protection of lands in the
Olympic Peninsula in the 1950s,
used this word in her campaigns.
She suggested that Howard Zahniser,
the primary author of the
Wilderness Act, that he use the
word concept to describe
wilderness. A trammel is a net
shackle or hobble. It's
something that restricts
movement and impedes free play.
Some of the synonyms to
untrammeled are unmanipulated
unrestrained, unhindered, wild,
uncontrolled and free. You can
see the intent of the word
untrammeled in The Wilderness
Act. These are areas where
humans do not direct what goes
on in the environment. It is
the forces of nature that
affect the environment. The act
goes on to define wilderness as
areas that are also natural and
undeveloped. Areas where there
are outstanding opportunities
for those who seek solitude or
wish to enjoy a rugged,
primitive and unconfined type
of recreation. In three places
in the act, agencies are
directed to preserve wilderness
character. This is often
referred to as the primary
mandate. The Act Wilderness
character is not specifically
defined but has been
interpreted as the interaction
of three societal values
biophysical environments,
personal experiences and
symbolic meanings such as
humility, restraint and
interdependence. Taken
together, these tangible and
intangible values define
wilderness character and
distinguish wilderness from all
other lands. Wilderness
designation is the highest level of protection granted
to federal lands in order to
maintain and preserve the
wilderness character of these
areas. The act prohibits
certain uses, sometimes allowed
another federal lands. The act
says there shall be no
commercial enterprises,
permanent roads, temporary
roads, use of motor vehicles,
motorized equipment, use of
motorboats, landing of
aircraft, mechanical transport,
structures, or installations.
That's right. No roads, no
vehicles, no bicycle's, no
chainsaws, no helicopters or
airplanes, no cabins.
Wildernesses land retaining
its primeval character without
permanent improvements or human
habitation, "where the imprint of
man's work is substantially
unnoticeable." Eight of those 10
Prohibition's those accept
permanent roads and commercial
enterprises I listed can be
allowed in wilderness as a
let's say last resort. That
means that they are strictly
prohibited except as necessary
to meet minimum requirements
for the administration of the
area for the purpose of this
act. As with any legislation,
exceptions and compromises are
made to ensure passage. These
include private rights existing
before wilderness designation,
special provisions to support
national goals identified in
the Wilderness Act, or uniquely
identified for individual
wilderness areas through the
statutes that designated
individual areas, or when
actually needed to preserve the
area's wilderness character.
Wilderness is an important
resource. In 1964 with the
passage of the Wilderness Act,
Congress stated, "The purpose of
wilderness is to secure for the
American people of present and
future generations the benefits
of an enduring resource of
wilderness." They saw wilderness
as one resource just air,
water, minerals, timber and
wildlife to name a few
resources. So is wilderness.
Wilderness is a resource that
includes areas like the Arctic
Tundra and Alaska, the swamps
of the southeast, alpine
forests, coastal sand dunes, and
the hardwood forests of the
northeast, swells the deserts of
the southwest. Remember almost
every state in the country has
designated wilderness
protecting their unique
ecosystems. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service manages almost
21 million acres of designated
wilderness as stated in The
Wilderness Act, "except as
otherwise provided in this Act,
each agency administering any
area designated as wilderness
shall be responsible for
preserving the wilderness
character." So our mission in
the FWS, along with the
managers of wilderness and
forests, national parks and
conservation lands is to
preserve the wilderness
character of those lands as an
enduring resource for present
and future generations. And how
do we do that? We do it by
practicing restraint and
humility in any management
action considered in wilderness
and we do it by monitoring the
condition of wilderness so as
to know when any of its
qualities are degraded and in
need of stewardship attention.
"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
Congress to secure for the
American people of present and
future generations the benefits
of an enduring resource of
wilderness." The Wilderness Act
Section 2 A. Obviously the law
is much more complex, but we
hope that you walk away with a
better understanding of how it
works, and be on the lookout for
other videos in this series and
training opportunities at the
National Conservation Training
Center. Thank you for watching.