The Wilderness Act in an Era of Global Change

1. The Wilderness Act in an Era of Global Change Gregory H. Aplet Senior Science Director

2. The Wilderness Actturns 50

3. Overview • A brief wilderness history • The essence of wilderness • Implications of global change • A strategy for sustaining wilderness values

4. The Early Years – Recreation and Ecological Condition Bob Marshall John Muir Aldo Leopold Victor Shelford “By ‘wilderness’ I mean a continuous stretch of country preserved in its natural state, open to lawful hunting and fishing, big enough to absorb a two weeks’ pack trip, and kept devoid of roads, artificial trails, cottages, or other works of man.” Aldo Leopold 1921 The Wilderness and Its Place in Forest Recreational Policy

5. The Post-War Years – Humility and Freedom from Control Wallace Stegner David Brower Howard Zahniser “We must never forget, we are guardians, not gardeners” Howard Zahniser 1963 The Living Wilderness

6. The Wilderness Act – 1964

7. The Wilderness Act • Defined wilderness and established the National Wilderness Preservation System • Established a process for adding to the system • Described limitations on use • Established exceptions to limitations

8. The essence of wilderness • From Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act: • A wilderness…is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in the Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which…generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature…

9. Earth and its community of life Primeval character Natural conditions = Ecological condition (Wholeness or “historical fidelity”) Untrammeled by man Primeval influence Affected primarily by the forces of nature = Freedom from human control The essence of wilderness

10. Dimensions of Wildness Chesapeake Bay C&O Canal Arctic Refuge “Self-willed” Fire-excluded Ponderosa Pine Forest Vacant Lot Freedom from Control Everglades Pine Plantation Controlled Curtis Prairie Downtown Novel Pristine Ecological Condition

11. “Directions” of Management “Self-willed” Drift Recovery Freedom from Control Transformation Restoration Controlled Pristine Novel Ecological Condition

12. The Ideal of Wilderness Restoration

13. Growth of the System

14. Enter Global Change • Invasive species • Atmospheric deposition • Habitat fragmentation and land use change • Climate change

15. Global Change: The End of Recovery? • Pressure of • Global Change: • Warming • Invasives • Fragmentation Accept Change “Self-willed” Recovery Freedom from Control Resist Change Guide Change Controlled Pristine Novel Ecological Condition

16. Choices in the faceof climate change • Accept change:Observation only • Resist change: Restoration • Guide change: Innovation and experimentation

17. Certain Uncertainty “We might feel confident of broad-scale future environmental changes (such as global mean temperature increases), but we cannot routinely predict even the direction of change at local and regional scales (such as increasing or decreasing precipitation).” Millar et al. (2007)

18. What to do? “Managing in the face of uncertainty will require a portfolio of approaches, including short-term and long-term strategies, that focus on enhancing ecosystem resistance and resilience…as climates and environments continue to shift.” Millar et al. (2007) “A portfolio of adaptation and mitigation measures can diminish the risks associated with climate change.” IPCC Adaptation Report

19. An ExperimentalLandscape Approach • Observation only in some places (both treatment and control) • Restoration in some places (“Keeping all the parts”) • Innovationin some places (novel conservation) • Integratedacross the landscape in a cohesive experiment

20. Principles of Allocation • Representation • Connectivity across gradients • Configuration

21. An illustration

22. The Benefits ofan Observation Only Approach • Deepening respect for nature’s autonomy • Fostering scientific humility • Sustaining non-focal species • Reducing unintended adverse consequences • Providing unmanipulated benchmarks • Preserving options and hedging risk From: “Let It Be: A Hands-Off Approach to Preserving Wildness in Protected Areas” by Peter Landres, USFS

23. Real Life Example: Hawaiian Ahupua’a “In different places, in different chunks, we can manage nature for different ends—for historical restoration, for species preservation, for self-willed wildness, for ecosystem services, for food and fiber and fish and flame trees and frogs.” – Emma Marris