Figure 1—Alaska has always had human populations in its vast wilderness, and laws specific to these areas recognize and allow for native uses of wilderness in a manner not originally recognized in wilderness laws in the lower 48 states. Here, a native Alaskan elder near Kotzebue shows a cartridge bag made from a duck carcass. Photo by Vance G. Martin.
value that many nonresidents derive from simply knowing that wilderness exists. However, people inhabit most wilderness areas in their natural state. The Eurocentric concept of wilderness as an area where “man himself is a visitor who does not remain” (the Wilderness Act) has rarely characterized remote regions that we think of as wilderness (Watson et al. 2003). In Alaska, for example, people have inhabited remote areas for at least 10,000 years and have depended on wilderness as a source of subsistence resources and as a place to live. Although the tools by which Alaska natives interact with the land have changed to include rifles, snow machines, and motorboats, which in turn requires integration into a mixed cashsubsistence economy, there remains a strong cultural and economic dependence on the land (Chapin et al. 2004). Given that wilderness areas will change, and the nature of these changes will be strongly influenced social-ecological interactions, how can we construct a framework for wilderness stewardship that embraces change as a process that brings both opportunities and challenges, rather than simply attempting to prevent change (Gunderson and Holling 2002; Berkes et al. 2003)? Based on the experience of the MEA, some general rules emerge that may prove useful (Chapin et al. 2004; Millennium 20 | The Wild Planet Project | May 2007
Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Given that change is a natural feature of social-ecological systems, it is often beneficial to foster modest changes, rather than preventing those changes that make catastrophic events more likely. Fire suppression, for example, reduces the probability of wildfire in the short term but increases the probability of future larger fires. Crises or other large changes that do occur can be treated as opportunities to think outside the box for novel solutions to address future needs. Regardless of what happens, it is important to learn from change, because it is virtually certain that changes will continue to occur. Sustaining diversity provides more options to respond effectively to changes that occur. For example, maintaining large management units with a wide range of ecological and topographic diversity provides opportunities for organisms to migrate in response to future climate changes rather than being trapped in a local preserve that becomes gradually less suitable as habitat (Elmqvist et al. 2003). Similarly, fostering cultural diversity in which people with different cultural ties to the land (e.g., subsistence users and backpackers) provides opportunities to interact with the land in different, but equally appropriate, ways.
Figure 2—Salmon is an important source of subsistence for native Alaskans. Most native Alaskans have a fishing camp and a hunting camp, such as where this drying rack holds salmon and a seal skin, on the coast north of Kotzebue. Photo by Vance G. Martin.
Planning for the long-term integrity of wilderness in the face of certain changes in climate, culture, and economy is a serious challenge but represents an opportunity to think creatively about the deepest values that underlie the human need to be a part of wilderness in an enduring fashion. Resident and nonresident users of wilderness must work together to define the limits to acceptable change and the attributes of wilderness that are most important to sustain.
References Berkes, F., J. Colding, and C. Folke, eds.
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Figure 3—Warmer winters have allowed pests to move farther north. Spruce bark beetle has had a very destructive impact in some Alaskan forests, such as on this coastline in Halibut Cove, off Katchemak Bay. Photo by Vance G. Martin.