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The multiple values of wilderness and the future of the national wilderness preservation system

Informally Refereed

Abstract

American society and its landscapes are changing dramatically. Then again, this country has always been a place of change. Both its population and landscapes are very different now than they were in the past, particularly when compared to the distant past. In that more distant past, even as early European settlement was occurring, there was an abundance of natural land-it seemed limitless. In more recent times, however, as there was greater realization that this country's natural resources have a limit, and as the abundance of undeveloped land diminished, some lands were put into state and federal land systems for conservation or reserve purposes (Carstensen, 1962). Some of the federal land systems established were quite remote and viewed as too far from human settlements to ever face development and raw material extraction pressures. By the dawn of the 20th century, however, it was becoming clear that no land was remote enough to escape human pressures and resource exploitation (see Chapter 2). By the middle years of the 20th century, a different vision was forming in some people's minds about the future of federal lands (see Chapter 3).

Citation

Cordell, H. Ken; Bergstrom, John C.; Bowker, J. Michael. 2005. The multiple values of wilderness and the future of the national wilderness preservation system. In: The Multiple Values of Wilderness: 266-278
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/25138