“Wilderness solitude is a state of mind, a mental freedom that emerges from settings where visitors experience nature essentially free of the reminders of society, its inventions, and conventions. Privacy and isolation are important components, but solitude also is enhanced by the absence of other distractions, such as large groups, mechanization, unnatural noise, signs, and other modern artifacts… it is conducive to the psychological benefits associated with wilderness and one’s free and independent response to nature.” — FWS Draft Wilderness Stewardship Policy, 2001

Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act defines Wilderness, in part, as an area with “outstanding opportunities for solitude.” The Act clearly recognized the human need and benefits of seeking solitude from modern civilization, its pressures and technologies. The Act also recognized that the amount of land that is not dominated and manipulated by modern humans is rapidly declining, as demonstrated in the very first sentence of the Wilderness Act:

“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 of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness.” (emphasis added)

Opportunities for solitude from civilization forms an intrinsic component of an area’s wilderness character. Good Wilderness stewardship requires protecting this important quality, and not allowing it to diminish over time. Carefully note that the Act does not require that individual visitors must want or appreciate wilderness solitude. The Act’s legal mandate to managers is that they are to preserve “outstanding opportunities” for visitors to experience this component of an area’s Wilderness character. This means managers cannot justify using motorized or mechanized equipment in Wilderness just because it is the ‘off-season’ when few visitors may be present. According to the law, Wilderness character must be preserved at all times, not just when visitors are present, and solitude is a key component of Wilderness character.

Wilderness solitude is diminished by actions and activities that are reminders of civilization, its conventions, and technologies. Solitude therefore can be diminished by the presence of crowding, large groups, intrusion of motorized vehicles and mechanized equipment, visible regulatory presence inside wilderness, habituation and displacement of wildlife, commercialized extreme sports, significant or dominant presence of other commercial activities, proliferation of recreation developments such as over-built bridges, wide trails, signs, restrooms, campsite benches, and hitching rails, and sense of immediate search & rescue availability.

Zahniser believed that experiencing solitude from civilization is very conducive to deriving the unique psychological and spiritual benefits of Wilderness:

“Deeper and broader than the recreational value of wilderness… is the importance that relates it (wilderness) to our essential being, indicating that the understandings which come in its surroundings are those of true reality… In the wilderness it is thus possible to sense most keenly our human membership in the whole community of life on the Earth. And in this possibility is perhaps one explanation for our modern deep-seated need for wilderness.”

Zahniser described an awareness of our membership in the larger community of life as the profound educational value of Wilderness. He believed that solitude from civilization is a key factor in enabling us to experience this benefit of Wilderness.