wilderness character monitoring - university of idaho · •1 wilderness character monitoring and...
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•1
Wilderness Character Monitoring and the Saguaro Wilderness
Wilderness and Protected Area
Management
Jesse Engebretson
“The purpose of the Wilderness
Act is to preserve the
wilderness character of the
areas to be included in the
wilderness system, not to
establish any particular use.”
Howard Zahniser Primary author of the
Wilderness Act of 1964 •2
Wilderness Act
Section 2(a): “a National Wilderness Preservation System… shall be administered … so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character”
Section 4(b): “each agency administering any area designated as wilderness
shall be responsible for
preserving the wilderness
character of the area”
•3
Wilderness “X” at time
of designation
Modern Human Influence more less
Wildern
ess
Chara
cte
r
impro
ved
degra
ded
Wilderness Character in Stewardship
stable
•4
Fulfill purpose of the Wilderness Act & improve accountability
Understand consequences of decisions and actions
Integrate stewardship across all resource areas
Provide enduring legacy information
Guard against legal vulnerability
Why Should We Care?
•5
“…an improper evaluation of the wilderness character of the
area….” Barnes v. Babbitt (D. Ariz.) (2004)
“‘Natural conditions’…are part of the ‘wilderness character’ to be preserved.”
Wilderness Soc. v. USFWS (9th Cir. En banc) (2003)
“…that action degrades the wilderness character….” Izaak Walton League v. Kimbell (D. Minn.) (2007)
“[The decision] is in direct contradiction of the mandate to
preserve the wilderness character.” OLYM Park Assoc. v. Mainella (West. D. WA) (2005)
Wilderness Character in Court
•6
•2
What is wilderness character?
The primary management mandate
Yet
Not defined in the Wilderness Act
•7
What is “Wilderness Character”?
Most would agree on general concepts:
Wilderness is free-willed
The signs of modern humans are minimal
Natural processes are allowed to flourish
Wilderness recreational experiences should include
solitude, primitive conditions, risk and self-
exploration
These lands are managed in contrast to the
lands around them.
•8
What is wilderness character?
Biophysical
Aspects
Experiential
Aspects
Symbolic
Aspects
The natural condition of the
land, its wildlife, and
ecological processes Natural fire regimes
Scenic quality Natural vegetation
Native wildlife
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The personal
benefits and
meanings
people derive
from their
experiences in
wilderness
Biophysical
Aspects
Experiential
Aspects
Symbolic
Aspects
What is wilderness character?
Experience of nature, free
from constraints of culture Personal challenge and
self-discovery
Recreation and the
use of primitive skills
The meanings
that individuals
and society
derive from the
existence of
wildernesses
Biophysical
Aspects
Experiential
Aspects
Symbolic
Aspects
What is wilderness character?
Interconnectedness Humility and restraint
Part of
something larger
than the self
•11
“…affected primarily by the forces of nature…”
Untrammeled
Wilderness Character: Qualities
“…an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man…”
Unmanipulated
Free
Uncontrolled
Wild •12
•3
Untrammeled
Degraded by actions that manipulate, control, or hinder “the community of life”
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Spraying weeds
Killing predators
Collaring
Suppressing / lighting
fires
Wilderness Character: Qualities Untrammeled
Wilderness is essentially unhindered and free
from modern human control or manipulation •14
“...protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions….”
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Untrammeled: decisions or actions
Natural: effects
•15
“...protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions….”
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Untrammeled: management decision
Natural: condition of the land
•16
Natural Untrammeled
“...protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions….”
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Vegetation
Wildlife
Air, Water, Soil
Ecological
Processes •17
Natural Untrammeled
Degraded by effects (intended or unintended) of modern civilization
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Non-native species
Extirpation
Pollution
Interference with
ecological processes •18
•4
Wilderness ecological systems are substantially
free from the effects of modern civilization
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
•19
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped
“…undeveloped…land retaining…primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements…”
“...where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
•20
“We stand without our
mechanisms that make
us immediate masters
over our environment.”
Howard Zahniser
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped
“In order to assure that…growing mechanization does not occupy and
modify all areas within the United States…”
TheWilderness Act, § 2(a)
•21
Degraded by structures and tools that facilitate our ability to occupy or modify the environment
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Structures
Installations
Aircraft
Motors
Mechanical
transport
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped
Wilderness retains its primeval character and
influence, and is essentially without permanent
improvement or modern human occupation •23
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation
“…outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation…”
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•5
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation
Traditional /
Primitive Skills
Challenge & Self-
discovery
Connection &
Freedom •25
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation
Encounters
Facilities
Restrictions
Degraded by settings
that reduce these
opportunities
•26
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation
Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for
solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation Other features of value
“may also contain ecological, geological, … scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.”
Wilderness Character: Qualities
Natural Untrammeled
Undeveloped Solitude or Primitive and
Unconfined Recreation Other features
Wilderness may have unique qualities which must
be protected consistent with a wilderness context
Five distinct and equally
important qualities that are
inter-related
Each wilderness may have
unique aspects of all five
qualities
Wilderness character is
affected by stewardship
decisions to take action or not
to take action
Wilderness Character: Qualities
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•6
Example: prescribed
burning
Prescribed burning may improve the Natural quality
Prescribed burning degrades the Untrammeled quality
Wilderness Character: Qualities Implications for Management A single action may
improve one Quality
while degrading another
•31
Example: use of helicopters
to spray herbicide to mitigate
invasive plant infestation
Decision to manipulate degrades the Untrammeled quality
Herbicide application may degrade the Natural quality
Presence of the helicopters degrades the Undeveloped quality
Mitigating invasive plants may improve the Natural quality
Wilderness Character: Qualities Implications for Management A single decision or
action may degrade
more than one Quality
•32
Quality Question Indicator Measures
Natural
Wilderness
ecological
systems are
substantially
free from the
effects of
modern
civilization
What are the trends in
terrestrial, aquatic,
and atmospheric
natural resources
inside wilderness?
Plant and animal
species and
communities
Acres of
non-native
invasive
plant
infestation
Physical resources Air quality
(Visibility,
Ozone,
Total –N,
Total – S)
What are the trends in
terrestrial, aquatic,
and atmospheric
natural processes
inside wilderness?
Biophysical processes Departure
from
natural fire
return
interval
How SAGU monitors Natural
•33
Quality Question Indicator Measures
Untrammeled
Wilderness is
essentially
unhindered and
free from
modern human
control or
manipulation
What are the
trends in
actions that
control or
manipulate the
“earth and its
community of
life” inside
wilderness?
Actions authorized by the
Federal land manager that
manipulate the biophysical
environment
Acres of
prescribed
burning
Actions not authorized by
the Federal land manager
that manipulate the
biophysical environment
N/A at
SAGU, but,
examples
include
illegal fish
stocking,
poaching,
etc.
How SAGU monitors Untrammeled
•34
Quality Question Indicator Measures
Undeveloped
Wilderness retains its
primeval character and
influence, and is essentially without
permanent
improvement or modern human occupation
What are the trends in non-recreational
development inside
wilderness?
Non-recreational structures, installations,
and developments
Number and extent of built
NPS
infrastructure
Inholdings Acres of inholdings
What are the trends in mechanization
inside wilderness?
Use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment,
or mechanical transport
Index of administrative
and
nonemergency
motor vehicles, motorized
equipment and
mechanized transport use
How SAGU monitors Undeveloped
•35
Quality Question Indicator Measures
Solitude or Primitive
and Unconfined
Recreation
Wilderness provide soutstanding
opportunities for
solitude or primitive and unconfined
recreation
What are the trends
in outstanding
opportunities for
solitude inside
wilderness?
Remoteness from sights
and sounds of people
inside the wilderness
Number of
backcountry
permits
issued
Remoteness from occupied and modified
areas outside the
wilderness
Miles of roads within
¼ mile of
the
wilderness boundary
What are the trends in outstanding
opportunities for
primitive and
unconfined recreation inside
wilderness?
Facilities that decrease self-reliant recreation
Number and extent of
park
maintained
facilities
Management restrictions on visitor behavior
Visitor restriction
index
How SAGU monitors … opportunities
•36
•7
How SAGU monitors … Other features
Quality Question Indicator Measures
Other Features
This quality is unique
to a particular
wilderness. These
features typically include cultural resources,
historical sites,
paleontological localities,
or any feature not in one of the other qualities
that has scientific,
educational, scenic, or
historical value.
What are the trends
that promote urban community engagement
with the wilderness?
Instances of community
involvement with the wilderness
Number of youth
in wilderness on curriculum based
field trips
Percentage of
socio-economically disadvantaged
youth in field trips
What are the trends in
structural or installations of
historical importance
inside wilderness?
Structures or installations
of historical importance
Conditional index
of all LCS structures
What are the trends in
cultural resources inside wilderness?
Condition of statutorily
protected cultural resources
Conditional index
of representative archeological sites
•37
“We must then do two things: we must see that
an adequate system of wilderness areas is
designated for preservation; and then we must
allow nothing to alter the wilderness character of
the preserves.”
H. Zahniser, “Wilderness Forever,” 1961
Wilderness Character
•38
Questions?
If you have any further questions, please contact:
Jesse Engebretson
PhD Student, University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources,
Department of Conservation Social Sciences
Wilderness Fellow 2012 – SAGU & CHIR
jengebretson@uidaho.edu
(612) 804-6011
•39
Wilderness
Regional
National
Forest
X
THE “WEDDING CAKE” MODEL OF
NATIONAL INDICATORS
= National Indicators of Selected
Conditions Related to Wilderness
Character
X
•40
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