Trail & Timberline #1006 (Spring 2010)

Page 20

Poetic Preservation The Necessity of Wilderness

Chris Case

By Steve Smith, The Wilderness Society

“…An

area where the earth and its

community of life are untrammeled by man… retaining its primeval character and influence...”

Such evocative phrasing might come from an essayist contemplating the wonder and glory of nature unfettered, or perhaps a promotional discourse luring visitors to explore exotic and faraway places. 18

Trail & Timberline

Actually, that eloquent passage is in federal law. The Wilderness Act of 1964 established the world’s first, deliberate system of permanently preserved wildlands, here in the United States, establishing specific requirements and limits for identifying, maintaining, and protectively managing those increasingly rare spots on Earth.

Unique among federal statutes, this one managed to also engage some poetry—bubbling from the enthusiasm of wilderness advocates who worked for 30 years toward its passage—and reflected the breathtaking and contemplative richness of deep backcountry. The law went on: “In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechani-


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Trail & Timberline #1006 (Spring 2010) by Colorado Mountain Club - Issuu