What is Wilderness?

Congressional Perspective

The Wilderness Act was passed in 1964, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System "...for the permanent good of the whole people." This act also directs federal land management agencies, including the National Park Service, to manage these wilderness areas and preserve wilderness character.

Fun Fact:
The largest wilderness area in the National Wilderness Preservation System is the Wrangell-St. Elias Wilderness, protecting more than nine million acres of Alaskan tundra and boreal forest.

Theodore Roosevelt Perspective

The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom. Now and then one will hear the wilder voices out there, from animals that in the hours of darkness do not fear the neighborhood of man: the coyotes wail like dismal ventriloquists, or the silence may be broken by the snorting and stamping of a deer. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of said spaces, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm. And now, as the edges of the wilderness lie close beside the beaten roads of present travel, the beauty and charm of the wilderness are yours for the asking.

Indigenous Perspective

Theodore Roosevelt National Park Wilderness, although designated for untrammeled use, has contributed to a misleading narrative. Indigenous peoples have historically utilized this landscape as a pharmacy, a site for spiritual renewal, and the physical location of Origin Stories, among other uses of flora and fauna. This Indigenous knowledge is both present and enduring. Can these two ideals coexist?The notion that places existed without human presence overlooks the fact that Indigenous people cultivated the land now known as the United States. This narrative represents a story of injustice.