The Truth About Wilderness
An Analysis of Limitations Placed on Recreation through Wilderness Designation.
Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL)
By Marcie Swenson
“Wilderness” is the word radical environmentalists hide behind when they are trying to close public lands to recreation.
Radical environmentalists will try and convince the general population that recreation can and does take place in wilderness. The overwhelming evidence expressed in the Wilderness Act and case law show otherwise. This article will analyze the Wilderness Act and case law to help more people understand the definition of wilderness, and the ramifications of designating an area as “wilderness.” Wilderness does not equal recreation; wilderness does equal closure to all recreationists except a very small group. the “hikers.”
What is Wilderness?
The word “Wilderness” is often heard in debates, on TV, or the nightly news. But, does the public understand what it means? It takes hours of research to study the National Wilderness Preservation System, or better known as the Wilderness Act of 1964. In just a few minutes, this article will provide an understanding of a highly controversial and political issue that could possible effect a lifetime of weekends for the majority of recreationist.
The simple definition of Wilderness is an area where the earth and wildlife is untrammeled by man.[1] More specifically it is federal land retaining its original character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, and is being protected and managed to preserve its natural conditions.[2] Additional provisions of the statute state that to be wilderness (1) the imprint of man’s work is substantially unnoticed, (2) it provides solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation, (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or sufficient size to make preservation practical[3], and (4) devoted to the public purposes of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.[4]
Who manages wilderness, or designates wilderness?
The three primary divisions of federal land management are the National Park Service, National Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. Wilderness areas or wilderness study areas (WSA) are managed by the Department and agency that managed that particular land immediately before it became wilderness or WSA. Basically, if the National Forest Service managed the land before it was designated wilderness then the National Forest Service will continue to manage the wilderness area.[5]
The National Park Service, National Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management have the discretion to designate WSAs. These areas are those that the agencies feel should be wilderness and meet the criteria to be wilderness.
The responsibility for wilderness classification is placed on Congress. The statute (Wilderness Act) removes the absolute discretion of the land management agencies to designate wilderness. The land management agencies are responsible for the protection of the land and the recommendation of wilderness areas to Congress.[6]
How does this apply to your recreation?
Now that the boring part is over I’ll move on to the part that most recreationists’ really care about… How does the designating wilderness apply to recreation? Wilderness prohibits uses of the land including, permanent or temporary roads and structures, the use of motor vehicles, and the landing of aircraft.[7] When applied to types of recreation, wilderness areas prohibit full-size 4×4’s, side-by-sides, quads, snowmobiles, dirt bikes, motor boats, airplanes, helicopters, motor coaches/homes, house trailers, toy haulers, mountain bikes, sometimes horses (often a diaper is placed on the horse to catch harmful fecal matter), generators, any type of motorized equipment (i.e. drills, pumps), and some camping equipment (if it is motorized or mechanical).
Even though case law or statute do not address canyoneering or rock climbing (sport or traditional climbing), both of these activities could easily fall under prohibited activities. The canyoneer must leave behind webbing or bolts used in conjunction with anchors, and rock climbers use permanent bolts or cams which are mechanical devices.
Analysis reveals that almost all recreation is barred (except hiking and backpack camping) and contradicts the provision in the statute that states, “to preserve the land for the purpose of recreational, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use.”[8] The following is an analysis of each component of that provision to demonstrate the limitations wilderness designation places on public lands.
1. Case law that tests the provisions of the Wilderness Act have shown that recreation refers to only hikers or backpacking into the wilderness area.[9]
2. Enjoying the scenic value of the wilderness area only benefits hikers unless you count looking in from the outer edges of the area. We all know seeing the interior of a five-thousand acre parcel of land is not always possible and most often does not provide a true scenic experience.
3. Again, if there is any educational value it will have to be on foot or through binoculars.
4. Conservation can take place without locking up large parcels of land. If the public does not benefit from enjoying the land (and I mean not just the hikers), then why are we conserving the land? Who are we protecting the land for? If the land is locked up not even future generations will get to enjoy it?
5. The only historical use would be if there is rock art (pictographs or petroglyphs). Remember there isn’t suppose to be any permanent structures so if there is any early settler dwellings the agency might remove them, and it is unclear how Anasazi or Fremont dwellings will be addressed.
Clearly, you can see why designating public lands as wilderness is not preserving it for future generations. Instead, it is taking it away from most Americans except a minority group of recreationists, the hikers. A small group of radical environmentalists have continuously manipulated the public and large contributors into thinking that creating wilderness preserves land. It is becoming more and more evident that their “wilderness campaign” is propaganda. It is now easier to see that their true agenda is claiming public lands for themselves. It is time that it is known that they are not the superior group of recreationist they think they are, they are not the elite. The majority has as much if not more right to use public lands. Hikers are only one small group of people who use public lands. Previously mentioned are all of the many groups that are being barred from wilderness areas and other federally managed lands. It’s time to make our views known!
We Can Stop the Designation of Wilderness!!
Utah has about 300,000 acres of wilderness area including the latest Washington County addition that encompasses Zion National Park and outlying areas.[10] According to the Bureau of Land Management website Utah has 3.2 million acres of WSA.[11] The amount of recreationists who are being blocked from access to federal lands is a much larger group than the small group of hikers that are allowed in wilderness.
Get involved; educate your friends and family on the issues. Donate time and money to organizations that keep the land open. Support elected officials who support our right to access these lands. Make it a goal to recruit at least one new individual to our cause each time you go out and enjoy public land. Get your recruits to join USA-ALL as members and to commit a little time and money each year that will help keep public land open.
We are competing with opposing Utah organizations like Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance that have annual budgets of over a million and a half dollars. There are more than 200,000 registered OHV’s and snowmobiles in the state of Utah. If the owners of each of those 200,000 OHVs donated only $50 a year to USA-ALL we would more than quadruple our current annual budget. We would then have the budget needed to not only stop groups like SUWA, but we would be able to put them in the place they belong.
We cannot stand by any longer and let the minority groups make decision for us on our future use of public lands. We are the majority and we can stop designation of wilderness we can stop closures of our roads and trails if we ascribe to the small level of involvement that this article suggests.
–Marcie is a member of the board of directors of USA-ALL and a student at J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. She is a Juris Doctor Candidate for 2011.–
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[1] See Wilderness Act of 1964, 16 U.S.C.A §1331 (West 2009).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id. §1333.
[5] See Id. §1131.
[6] See Parker v. United States, 309 F. Supp (D. Colo. 1970), aff’d, 448 F.2d 793 (10th Cir. 1971).
[7] See Getty Oil Co. V. Clark, 614 F. Supp 904 (D. Wyo. 1985).
[8] See Id. §1333.
[9] Id. Getty Oil Co., 614 F. Supp at 904.
[10] http://www.blm.gov
[11] http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/moab/blm_special_areas/wilderness_study_areas.print.html
Category: Access Issues
