The Wilderness Act in an Era of Global Change

Gregory H. ApletSenior Science Director

The Wilderness Act turns 50

Overview

• A brief wilderness history

• The essence of wilderness

• Implications of global change

• A strategy for sustaining wilderness values

The Early Years – Recreation and Ecological Condition

John Muir Aldo Leopold Bob Marshall Victor Shelford

“By ‘wilderness’ I mean a continuous stretch of country preserved in its natural state, open to lawful hunting and fishing, big enough to absorb a two weeks’ pack trip, and kept devoid of roads, artificial trails, cottages, or other works of man.”

Aldo Leopold 1921The Wilderness and Its Placein Forest Recreational Policy

The Post-War Years – Humility and Freedom from Control

David Brower Howard Zahniser Wallace Stegner

“We must never forget, we are guardians, not gardeners” Howard Zahniser 1963The Living Wilderness

The Wilderness Act – 1964

The Wilderness Act

• Defined wilderness and established the National Wilderness Preservation System

• Established a process for adding to the system

• Described limitations on use

• Established exceptions to limitations

The essence of wilderness

From Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act:

A wilderness…is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in the Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which…generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature…

The essence of wilderness

Earth and its community of life

Primeval characterNatural conditions

=Ecologicalcondition

(Wholeness or “historical fidelity”)

Untrammeled by man

Primeval influenceAffected primarily

by the forces of nature

=Freedom from human control

Ecological Condition

Fre

edo

m f

rom

Co

ntr

ol

Novel Pristine

Con

trol

led

“Sel

f-w

illed

”

Arctic Refuge

Downtown

Curtis Prairie

C&O Canal

Vacant Lot

Pine Plantation

Chesapeake Bay

Everglades

Fire-excluded Ponderosa Pine

Forest

Dimensions of Wildness

Recov

ery

Tran

sform

ation

Drift

Restoration

Ecological Condition

Fre

edo

m f

rom

Co

ntr

ol

Co

ntr

olle

d“S

elf-

will

ed

”

Novel Pristine

“Directions” of Management

The Ideal of Wilderness Restoration

Growth of the System

Enter Global Change

• Invasive species

• Atmospheric deposition

• Habitat fragmentation and land use change

• Climate change

Recov

ery

Guide

Chang

e

Accept Change

Resist Change

Ecological Condition

Fre

edo

m f

rom

Co

ntr

ol

Co

ntr

olle

d“S

elf-

will

ed

”

Novel Pristine

Global Change: The End of Recovery?

Pressure of Global Change:• Warming• Invasives• Fragmentation

Choices in the faceof climate change

Accept change: Observation only

Resist change: Restoration

Guide change: Innovation and experimentation

Certain Uncertainty

“We might feel confident of broad-scale future environmental changes (such as global mean temperature increases), but we cannot routinely predict even the direction of change at local and regional scales (such as increasing or decreasing precipitation).”

Millar et al. (2007)

What to do?

“Managing in the face of uncertainty will require a portfolio of approaches, including short-term and long-term strategies, that focus on enhancing ecosystem resistance and resilience…as climates and environments continue to shift.”

Millar et al. (2007)

“A portfolio of adaptation and mitigation measures can diminish the risks associated with climate change.”

IPCC Adaptation Report

An ExperimentalLandscape Approach

Observation only in some places (both treatment and control)

Restoration in some places (“Keeping all the parts”)

Innovation in some places (novel conservation)

Integrated across the landscape in a cohesive experiment

Principles of Allocation

• Representation

• Connectivity across gradients

• Configuration

An illustration

The Benefits ofan Observation Only Approach

• Deepening respect for nature’s autonomy

• Fostering scientific humility• Sustaining non-focal species• Reducing unintended adverse

consequences• Providing unmanipulated

benchmarks• Preserving options and hedging

riskFrom: “Let It Be: A Hands-Off Approach to Preserving Wildness in Protected Areas” by Peter Landres, USFS

Real Life Example: Hawaiian Ahupua’a

“In different places, in different chunks, we can manage nature for different ends—for historical restoration, for species preservation, forself-willed wildness, for ecosystem services, for food and fiber andfish and flame trees and frogs.” – Emma Marris