Fifty years ago, in 1964, the Wilderness Act was signed into law by the United States Congress.
This Act allowed for the establishment of the National Wilderness Preservation System
which now includes 758 areas in 44 states and Puerto Rico.
The United States was the first country in the world to define and designate wilderness
areas through law.
In 1964 our nation's leaders formally acknowledged the immediate and lasting
benefits of wild places to the human spirit and fabric of our nation.
That year, in a nearly unanimous vote, Congress enacted landmark legislation
that permanently protected some of the most natural and undisturbed places in America.
The Wilderness Act is one of the most successful U.S. environmental laws,
standing for almost 50 years without a substantial amendment, and it continues to be the guiding
piece of legislation for all wilderness areas.
But what is Wilderness?
What is it and what does it mean?
Surely it�s more than legislation � more than boundary lines on a map.
What is it?
The legislation contains some clues or guidance about the purposes and characteristics of
Wilderness � things like: "...lands designated for preservation and
protection in their natural condition..."
Or "...an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man..."
Or "...an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence,
without permanent improvement or human habitation..."
Or "...an area that has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined
type of recreation..."
These are all meaningful, useful, and at times poetic descriptions of Wilderness � but
for me, they don�t completely describe my idea of the value of Wilderness.
Throughout our lives we are measured by different things in society:
In school we get grades that reflect our performance; we get medals and trophies and degrees that
reflect our athletic or intellectual prowess; later in life we receive various salaries
for the jobs that we do --- all of these are measures or �markers�
of our status, progress, and overall place in the world.
Though these societal measurements are meaningful, for me, it is Wilderness that will always
be the ultimate yardstick � Wilderness will be the ultimate index by which
I measure my status, progress, and overall place in the world.
I say this because when you enter a Wilderness alone, unsupported, you quickly realize that
the Wilderness doesn�t particularly care about you �
it doesn�t care about the grades you got in school; it doesn�t care about your medals,
or degrees, or the size of your salary.
The first time you measure yourself by the yardstick of Wilderness you may quickly find
that you are, indeed, very small � and perhaps inconsequential.
. . But as you spend more time out there � as
you acclimate to the solitude, the quiet, as you rise to the physical and mental challenges
that you can only encounter in wild country, you find that, perhaps, you aren�t quite
as small and inconsequential as you first thought.
With each night spent alone on the ground in the Wilderness;
with each season experienced out of doors in wild country; you can actually start to
grow!
You grow physically through the realization that your body is healthy and strong;
you grow mentally through the realization that pain and discomfort are not going to
kill you; and you grow spiritually through the realization
that you are part of a community of life that was here long before you were born and will
be here long after you pass.
And this is why, for me, Wilderness will always be the ultimate yardstick.
When I was a boy, my dad took me out to the West Mesa in Albuquerque, New Mexico to show
me where he grew up.
I remember him waving his arm across the Mesa and telling me that nothing was there!
None of the development � none of the subdivisions, or shopping malls � nothing was there --- Just
desert.
I remember wondering then if this was a good thing my dad was talking about or a bad thing.
I still wonder about that . . . and to be honest, I have to admit that I still
don�t really know the answer.
. . However, I do know one thing.
I know that when I take my kids to the special places in my life �
when I take them to the sacred spots of my youth in the Gila and Aldo Leopold Wilderness
areas, I know that those places will still be there � undeveloped and untamed.
And I also know that when my kids are ready; when they have had their fill of the many
ways that our society weighs and measures them;
when they are ready to pick up a backpack and slip into the silence of Wilderness to
take their own measure of their existence, I know that at that time, thanks to the foresight
and vision of our forebears 50 years ago, I know that Wilderness and wild country will
still be there to greet them For this I am grateful.