What’s
Wilderne$$
Worth?
Maybe Money Does Grow on Trees
by chris case
W
hat’s wilderness worth? Listen to the eloquence of John Muir and Wallace Stegner; feel the passion of David Brower and study the methodical ethic of Aldo Leopold. Their words define wilderness. Yet, their thoughts never amounted to a sum value. Worth can—and in the case of wilderness, should—mean so much more. Now, however, in an era of caustic debate falsely pitting land against man— landscape preservation against economic salvation—the answer to the question of what wilderness is worth has taken on new power. “People opposed to wilderness began raising the economic question,” says John Loomis, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University. “Mining, timber, livestock grazing, even 34
Trail & Timberline
the chamber of commerce will say, ‘Oh my god, these are elitists that want wilderness.’” So, after Loomis and other economists considered the question, we have wilderness economics—and can place a value on protected places, if we so feel the need. Most of us know better than to rely on private enterprise to tell us the value— both tangible and intangible—of wilderness. The argument placed forth by extractive industries—that removal is the only use that yields wealth—is an epic lie. Theirs is a penchant for converting the natural wealth contained in the nation's pristine forests, deserts, canyons, and mesas into a fleeting boon of corporate profit. It never lasts. Indeed, it can’t last. Ultimately, the choice is not, and never
has been, between mining (and money) and preservation (and poverty). As many people are now realizing— politicians, boards of tourism, and county commissioners alike—wilderness means money, too. And wilderness lasts. As many of the early wilderness proponents—trained scientists—knew, wilderness protection was about far more than recreation. “There is economic value just by preserving it,” Loomis says, referring to those less tangible benefits that have for so long been ignored. “Economic valuation provides some balance to the environment versus people dichotomy, which is a false comparison.” But why has it taken so long for people to realize the sum value of wilderness? It may have to do with the complexity of eco-
