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During the first 40 years since passage of
the Wilderness Act, wilderness advocates were successful in expanding
the size of the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) from
the nine million acres originally designated by the Wilderness Act
to 107 million acres in 2004. However, during that same time period
research has documented that the quality and integrity of our Wilderness
System is declining. Wilderness advocates have begun realizing that
designating wilderness is only the first step toward achieving protection;
the second critical step is to prevent diminishment and loss of
Wilderness values by staunchly applying good Wilderness stewardship.
Four federal agencies have stewardship duties under the Wilderness
Act: the National Park Service (44 million acres), the Forest Service
(34.7 million acres), the Fish and Wildlife Service (20.6 million
acres), and the Bureau of Land Management (5.4 million acres). Agency
personnel are charged by the Wilderness Act to protect the wilderness
character of the acres under their jurisdiction. Good Wilderness
stewardship requires respecting the value of self-willed land, where
natural processes prevail and humans do not dominate and control.
Degradation of the NWPS
The quality of our NWPS and the very idea of Wilderness face significant
and increasing threats from many directions.
For example, the very concept of "Wilderness" is being
seriously eroded through expanding motorized activities in Wilderness,
increasingly routine proposals for ecological manipulation and human
domination of natural processes, impacts associated with high recreational
use and certain forms of recreation, and the escalating commercialization
of the Wilderness resource. However, the most significant underlying
threat is the lack of commitment to good Wilderness stewardship.
This apathy can be found both within the land management agencies
as well as within the conservation community.
One thing that has become very clear is that the unique values and
very meaning of Wilderness will not survive if this level of apathy
continues. Our NWPS is in desperate need of passionate and knowledgeable
stewardship advocates. The action and efforts of stewardship activists
such as yourself are the only way we will achieve an enduring resource
of Wilderness in America for future generations to know and enjoy.
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