INTERNATIONAL Journal of Wilderness

AUGUST 2004 VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2

FEATURES SCIENCE AND RESEARCH EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVES 28 The Relationship between Qikiktagrugmiut 3 The Wilderness and People of Alaska Welcome (Kotzebue Tribal Members) and the Western 8th World Wilderness Congress Delegates in 2005 Arctic Parklands, Alaska, United States BY ALAN E. WATSON BY ALEX WHITING

SOUL OF THE WILDERNESS 32 Montane Lake Research Program A Taste of the North 4 BY ROLAND A. KNAPP Voices from the Wilderness about the Wilderness Character of Alaska PERSPECTIVES FROM THE ALDO LEOPOLD COMPILED BY ALAN E. WATSON, KATIE KNEESHAW WILDERNESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE and BRIAN GLASPELL 34 The Wilderness Stewardship Reference System BY PETER LANDRES STEWARDSHIP 9 Wilderness in a Changing Alaska EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION Managing for Resilience 35 “A Minor Accomplishment” BY F. STUART CHAPIN, III, LAURA HENRY, Roald Amundsen’s Classic Alaskan Trek and LA’ONA DEWILDE BY JIM GLOVER

14 Alaska’s Big Five 39 The Wrangell Mountains Center’s Significant Threats to Wilderness Resources College Field Program BY NICOLE WHITTINGTON-EVANS Student-Faculty Groups Engage Alaska Wilderness Issues in Rugged Terrain 18 Subsistence, Inholdings, and ANILCA BY BENJAMIN A. SHAINE The Complexity of Wilderness Stewardship in Alaska INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BY RANDY J. TANNER 43 South Africa’s uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site Celebrates 30 Years 23 Zoos Behind the Wild Facade of Wilderness BY JON KOHL BY SONJA KRÜGER and JOHN CROWSON

WILDERNESS DIGEST FRONT COVER At home in the 47 Announcements and Wilderness Calendar wilderness, Alaskan Brown Bear, or grizzly (Ursus arctos). Photo 48 Book Reviews by Cathy Hart. Making Sense of Intractable Environmental Conflicts: INSET Glacier viewing in Alaska, Concepts and Cases up-close. Photo by Cathy Hart. Edited by R. J. Lewicki, B. Gray, and M. Elliott REVIEW BY JOANNA KAFAROWSKI International Journal of Wilderness The International Journal of Wilderness links wilderness professionals, scientists, educators, environmentalists, and interested citizens worldwide with a forum for reporting and discussing wilderness ideas and events; inspirational ideas; planning, management, and allocation strategies; education; and research and policy aspects of wilderness stewardship.

EDITORIAL BOARD Perry Brown, University of Montana, Missoula, Mont., USA Vance G. Martin, WILD Foundation, Ojai, Calif., USA Alan Watson, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Missoula, Mont., USA John Shultis, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, B.C., Canada Steve Hollenhorst, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA Wayne A. Freimund, University of Montana, Missoula, Mont., USA Rebecca Oreskes, White Mountain National Forest, Gorham, N.H., USA

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John C. Hendee, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center, Moscow, Idaho, USA

MANAGING EDITOR Chad P. Dawson, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y., USA

ASSOCIATE EDITORS—INTERNATIONAL Gordon Cessford, Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand; Karen Fox, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Andrew Muir, Wilderness Foundation Eastern Cape, South Africa; Ian Player, South Africa National Parks Board and The Wilderness Foundation, Howick, Natal, Republic of South Africa; Vicki A. M. Sahanatien, Fundy National Park, Alma, Canada; Won Sop Shin, Chungbuk National University, Chungbuk, Korea; Anna-Liisa Sippola, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland; Franco Zunino, Associazione Italiana per la Wilderness, Murialdo, Italy.

ASSOCIATE EDITORS—UNITED STATES Greg Aplet, The Wilderness Society, Denver, Colo.; David Cole, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Missoula, Mont.; John Daigle, University of Maine, Orono, Maine; Don Fisher, USFS, Washington D.C.; Joseph Flood, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.; Lewis Glenn, Outward Bound USA, Garrison, N.Y.; Glenn Haas, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo.; Troy Hall, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho; William Hammit, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.; Greg Hansen, U.S. Forest Service, Mesa, Ariz.; Dave Harmon, Bureau of Land Management, Portland, Oreg.; Bill Hendricks, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Ed Krumpe, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho; Jim Mahoney, Bureau of Land Management, Sierra Vista, Ariz.; Bob Manning, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt.; Jeffrey Marion, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va.; Leo McAvoy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.; Michael McCloskey, Sierra Club; Christopher Monz, St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y.; Connie Myers, Arthur Carhart Wilderness Training Center, Missoula, Mont.; Roderick Nash, University of California, Santa Barbara, Calif.; David Ostergren, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz.; Marilyn Riley, Wilderness Transitions Inc., Sausalito, Calif.; Joe Roggenbuck, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Va.; Holmes Rolston III, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colo.; Susan Sater, U.S. Forest Service, Portland, Oreg.; Tod Schimelpfenig, National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, Wyo.; Rudy Schuster, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse, N.Y.; Elizabeth Thorndike, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Jay Watson, The Wilderness Society, San Francisco, Calif.; Dave White, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.

International Journal of Wilderness (IJW) publishes three issues per year Submissions: Contributions pertinent to wilderness worldwide are (April, August, and December). IJW is a not-for-profit publication. solicited, including articles on wilderness planning, management, and allocation strategies; wilderness education, including descriptions Manuscripts to: Chad P. Dawson, SUNY-ESF, 320 Bray Hall, One of key programs using wilderness for personal growth, therapy, and Forestry Drive, Syracuse, N.Y. 13210-2787, USA. Telephone: (315) environmental education; wilderness-related science and research from 470-6567. Fax: (315) 470-6535. E-mail: [email protected]. all disciplines addressing physical, biological, and social aspects of wilderness; and international perspectives describing wilderness Business Management and Subscriptions: WILD Foundation, P.O. Box 1380, worldwide. Articles, commentaries, letters to the editor, photos, book Ojai, CA 93024, USA. Telephone: (805) 640-0390. Fax: (805) 640-0230. reviews, announcements, and information for the wilderness digest are E-mail: [email protected]. encouraged. A complete list of manuscript submission guidelines is available from the managing editor. Subscription rates (per volume calendar year): Subscription costs are in U.S. dollars only—$35 for individuals and $55 for organizations/ Artwork: Submission of artwork and photographs with captions are libraries. Subscriptions from Canada and Mexico, add $10; outside North encouraged. Photo credits will appear in a byline; artwork may be signed America, add $20. Back issues are available for $15. by the author. All materials printed in the International Journal of Wilderness, copyright World Wide Website: www.ijw.org. © 2004 by the International Wilderness Leadership (WILD) Foundation. Individuals, and nonprofit libraries acting for them, are permitted to make Printed on recycled paper. fair use of material from the journal. ISSN # 1086-5519.

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS • Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute • Conservation International • National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) • Outward Bound™ • SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry • The WILD® Foundation • The Wilderness Society • University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center • University of Montana, School of Forestry and Wilderness Institute • USDA Forest Service • USDI Bureau of Land Management • USDI Fish and Wildlife Service • USDI National Park Service • Wilderness Foundation (South Africa) • Wilderness Leadership School (South Africa)

2 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 FEATURES

EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVES

The Wilderness and People of Alaska Welcome 8th World Wilderness Congress Delegates in 2005

ALAN E. WATSON

en years of dreams, proposals, negotiation, and de- lands and waters not bate culminated in 1980 with passage of the Alaska protected as wilderness T National Interest Lands Conservation Act but that demonstrate (ANILCA). With over 56 million acres (22.7 million ha) outstanding wilderness newly designated as wilderness, entire ecosystems were character. Wilderness assured protection, a world standard for remote and wild Watch, however, dem- opportunities for recreation visitors was created, and the onstrates more focus on sustainability of traditional relationships between rural and the complexities of apply- Native Alaskans and vast wilderness landscapes became ing ANILCA to current more likely. Now, nearly 25 years after this designation, Wilderness stewardship with spectacular wilderness resources legally protected, issues. The landscapes many issues that block full realization of the lofty intent of and the cultures of ANILCA remain unresolved. This special issue of the IJW is Alaska are constantly intended to provide a snapshot of some of those issues to evolving. In this issue help delegates to the 8th World Wilderness Congress we also find a proposal (WWC), to be held in Anchorage, Alaska, from September for principles to guide us

30 through October 6, 2005, understand the setting for in stewardship of these Article author Alan Watson. this world event. constantly changing In this issue, we hear many voices beckoning from the places, people, and relationships between the two. Alaska wilderness. We hear the story of the Qikiktagrugmiut People from many countries and cultures will come of Kotzebue about the Western Arctic Park lands and the together in Anchorage, Alaska, in 2005 to discuss the array meanings these Inupiaq people attach to places in some of of human and wilderness connections. It is appropriate that the wildest Alaska landscapes. They also tell us about some we begin our analysis at home, with this special issue on of the things that threaten this relationship. We learn about Alaska, The Great Land. The wilderness and the people of the relationships that students of the Wrangell Mountain Alaska have great things to offer. I only hope that WWC Center develop with our nation’s largest national park and delegates find opportunities to come to know both. wilderness and how those relationships affect these ALAN E. WATSON is a Research Social Scientist at the Aldo students. The Wilderness Society expresses concern over Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and an IJW Editor.

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 3 FEATURES

SOUL OF THE WILDERNESS

A Taste of the North

Voices from the Wilderness about the Wilderness Character of Alaska

COMPILED BY ALAN E. WATSON, KATIE KNEESHAW, and BRIAN GLASPELL

hese voices from the wilderness were compiled to illustrate some of the values of wilderness in Alaska. T Wilderness visitors, non-native Alaska residents, and rural, native people can all have different perceptions of wil- derness character, define wilderness differently, go to wilderness for different reasons, see different things when they are there, perceive wildness differently, and attach different importance to feelings of fear while in the wilderness, but they all find challenge in getting there, value wildlife as part of the wilderness, identify strongly with wilderness places, and find wilderness in Alaska to be unique (see Figure 1). Figure 1—“In the Lower 48, if you can drive there it isn’t wilderness. You have to walk. In Alaska, if you can walk there, it isn’t wilderness. You have to fly” (student at the University of Alaska, Anchorage). Unique Alaskan Wilderness Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The Brooks Range is a towering rampart against the north, the Aleutian and Alaskan Ranges a matching bulwark to the south, between them a complex of mining in 1980 all of a sudden has been declared a many other ranges, peaks, and valleys that are still national park. … All of a sudden it becomes relatively unknown and unnamed. Along its rugged, wilderness, when in fact it always was wilderness. beetling coasts are fiords, living glaciers, and ice fields So the fact that there’s other people in there, or which remind one of an age that is past. (Sigurd there’s activities that are historical, fits with the Olsen, in Hedin and Holthaus 1989, p. 2) situation. (An Alaska resident’s voice)

This is a glacial mountain wilderness, for the most What Is Wilderness in Alaska? part it’s not very hospitable … and there just haven’t We climbed on top of the glacier and stopped for been people living up here. I don’t know the an hour at the center while a pile of rock had fallen indigenous history, but I can’t even imagine there from the mountain above. It seemed to be the end were many indigenous people way up the passes of the earth or the heart of another earth as we because the glaciers are there and that’s not an perched on top of this remnant of a long-vanished environment that anybody can live on permanently. age. Everything we looked upon was unknown to (A wilderness visitor’s voice) human gaze. The nearest humans were a hundred and twenty-five miles away, and the civilization of Our wilderness here in Alaska is very different from which they constituted the very fringe … seemed the wilderness elsewhere, because of the use of unreal, unbelievable. Our present situation seemed aircraft, because of the history. An active area of also unreal. … It was the unreality of a remoteness

4 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 which made it seem as if we had landed come to ... wilderness like this because you realize miraculously on another planet which throughout how feeble and insignificant you are. Four- all passage of time had been without life. (Bob thousand-foot cliffs, mile-wide glacial valleys, you Marshall, in Hedin and Holthaus 1989, p. 158) know? (A wilderness visitor’s voice)

Very rough terrain, wild. … at first you need to I just love being out in the country. I also use it in a fight against something, but after that you need to, reciprocal way—like use the money I get from furs I to be humble, and just go with nature, and this was sell to afford to go out in the country again and again— easier. We had the opportunity to see every kind of I enjoy it. (A Native voice from the village of Kotzebue) terrain. We had bad weather, a few sunny days … it was really wild. I mean, for me … it was It was pleasant to feel so removed from everything. something that, I won’t say that I survived, but it Especially coming from New York. Just two different was amazing … pushing yourself every day further worlds. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) and further. (A wilderness visitor’s voice)

For me it was an adventure because you never knew What They See in Alaska Wilderness what was gonna be around the next corner, or if we’d My analytically inclined left brain grappled with be able to make it over the next pass, or what it would the spectacle before me. … At around one thousand be like, or … our whole goal initially was to get to kilometers up, the blazing began. The solar wind the Regal Glacier, in 7 days, and it took us 12 days to slammed into atmospheric gases, exciting them, get there and we turned the corner and it was totally energizing them, igniting them into an auroral impassible. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) display of ionospheric neon. Hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen glowed red, violet and green. Or they I can’t explain what I’ve seen or felt over the last six might as easily have glowed green, blue and yellow- days. It makes you question yourself and learn green respectively, depending on the collision about yourself, how far can I go, how hard can I altitude, the atmospheric temperature, the amount push myself, and when I get to that end, what does of energy released, and so on and so on. … I blinked it take to go on, because nobody can get you out hard. … My aesthetically inclined right brain sat except you. I learned a lot about myself this time. up and took notice … the lights danced. Cosmic (A wilderness visitor’s voice) choreography. (Jamie Bastedo 1998, p. 19)

Freedom and the ability to get out there as an The highlight for me, being in this mountain range, Alaskan Native … instead of being restricted when was being so far removed from any sign of civilization I go out. Clean water—unpolluted—so we can get at all. We had incredible views for miles and miles, clean water and ice, that is pretty important. (A and after 30 days this is the first time I’ve seen … a Native voice from the village of Kotzebue) shed, or anything like that. Coming from the Lower 48 and particularly New Jersey, which is a much more populated area, there hasn’t been a night in my life Why They Go to Wilderness where I could look out into the night sky and not A lot of predictions were made that Alaska would go see the lights of a distant city, even if I were in a to hell if this much precious land was taken away park, somewhere in upstate New York. Last night from the developers and the oil companies. Yet, seeing the northern lights was an incredible Alaska’s population has grown by fifty per cent and experience. You really have to be out there away from tourism has more than tripled. … Tourists don’t come civilization it seems in order to experience something to look at the back of the necks of others pouring off like that. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) the tour ships into small villages along the coast, nor to see oil wells, nor to hear the constant noise of We have the best country around here, even helicopters and snowmobiles. They come to find a compared to the rest of Alaska because of the great different form of human pleasure and enjoyment, diversity of animals and landscapes—mountains, solitude, beauty, and sights that are not available to rivers, tundra, trees. (A Native voice from the village a Georgian or to a person from New Mexico or Maine of Kotzebue) or Texas. (Jimmy Carter, in Smith, Anderson, Kendall-Miller, and Van Tuyn 2000, p. 7) I mean it was beautiful, just everything was huge, it’s typical Alaskan scale, it’s, you know, 10 times Glaciers, volcanoes, spectacular gorges, big wide bigger than even like Montana and Yellowstone, rivers, real wildlife, inaccessibility, vast territory. It where it’s big country for the Lower 48. (A gives me a greater respect for the wilderness. You wilderness visitor’s voice)

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 5 Will You Find Wildness? place and that we should try to keep it, have it so it has the same feel that it did for a long time in the The West of which I speak is but another name for past, you know change isn’t necessarily bad, but I the Wild; and … in Wildness is the preservation of hope the Park Service doesn’t change it so much that the World. Every tree sends its fibres forth in search I have to change my whole lifestyle and that I have of the Wild. The cities import it at any price. Men to look at the whole place in a different way than I plough and sail for it. From the forest and did in the past. (An Alaska resident’s voice) wilderness come the tonics and barks which brace mankind. (Henry David Thoreau 1950, p. 613) It sustains all the life that is out there—from the smallest fauna to the whole chain of life that goes You know, it’s really feeling like you’re the only one up from there. It’s beautiful to be a part of that chain. there. … You may be the first one that’s been there; (A Native voice from the village of Kotzebue) you might not have been, but it feels like it. You can’t tell you’re not. That’s kind of what wild is. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) Wildlife Is an Important Aspect of Wilderness in Alaska Everything that happens out here is at a balance The herd occupied the whole length of the big muskeg and it’s doing it on its own, like the glacier functions flat clear to the river, which stretched for at least a on its own, the animals function on their own, the mile. Now some were feeding, some even lying down, landscape functions on its own, and that’s what and the background chorus continued. Calves ran here makes this place special is we have no part in what and there, and we were glad to see them. Small groups it does. It just does it. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) split off and came back toward our camp. There were many bulls in dark summer coat, with great antlers It’s like here you’re subject to the wildness. You’re looking black against the sunlit green muskeg. Some subject to natural events, like if the river’s too high had black patches of new hair on their backs like because it’s been a hot day and the meltwater is really saddles, light underneath; some were still in faded swift like okay, so you don’t get across the river that winter coats. Every kind and variety was here; day, or if the trail, well the lack of trails, the brush is something, in some valley west of here, had brought too thick, you gotta go another way, we’re not in them together into this sixteen-hundred-strong herd control here. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) of talking, grunting pilgrims—they traveled as though they had a goal and knew the way and were not Wilderness Is Our Identity stopping. (Margaret E. Murie 1997, p. 314) But our fight is not just for the caribou. It’s for the whole ecosystem of Gwich’in country, which covers I mean, on all of my backpacks, I’ve never seen this northeast Alaska, the northern part of the Yukon much wildlife. I mean, big wildlife, you know. … Territory, and the McKenzie Delta. And our fight is a Grizzly bears were the first time. The wolverine was human rights struggle—a struggle for our rights to a first time. The caribou. So, yeah, the wildlife was be Gwich’in, to be who we are, a part of this land. amazing. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) (Sarah James, in Lentfer and Servid 2001, p. 5) Seventy-five percent of my life depends on going out and getting caribou, rabbits, ptarmigans and It rejuvenates my Inupiaq spirit. Keeps my spirit hunting and trapping. It really does mean a lot to alive like a vitamin for my inner strength and spirit. me. (A Native voice from the village of Kotzebue) Reminds me of how weak and small we are compared to the powers of the land and ocean. (A We saw bears, which of course everybody who goes Native voice from the village of Kotzebue) back there wants to see bears, including me. And it was a mother with two yearlings and they took turns My whole life revolves around it. (A Native voice standing up on their rear paws and looking at us from the village of Kotzebue) and then they’d pop down and one of the others would pop up. We just watched them for hours. (A I just really hope that the Park Service really tries to wilderness visitor’s voice) take the local views, the visitors’ views also, but especially the local views, because I think it is unique, almost more so than the actual national park, and The Challenge of Getting There just remember that there are people living out here People from outside write and say to friends in Alaska that live here for a certain reason and that the Park that they want to come stay with them and fish. “Fine,” Service should really try to take those reasons into says the return letter, “but you’ll have to charter. Air account and to really remember that it is a special charter.” “No,” says the next letter. “We just want to

6 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 stay at your place and fish from there.” Urban Alaskans where you’re going, and why you are out here. We shake their heads at such foolishness and say, typically, only saw a real small part of this thing, and it’s huge, “These people in the Lower Forty-eight, they don’t it’s huge beyond belief, so to come back and relate it, understand. (John McPhee 1979, p. 11) it’s difficult. … I mean we’re so oriented to the city and having things. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) But getting there is a bit more difficult, you know kind of finding the way, and then you’d run into a He fell, and it was fortunate that one of the guys had river or something, you’d have to backtrack and go put a rope on him, made him take a rope, or he’d a a little bit further down and find another river that been gone, and that’s a hard thing to think about. you couldn’t cross and go a little bit further down. You know, to be on a trip with somebody that dies. Eventually I made it. Went down and then tried to Life is being born and living, and you don’t think climb Donoho, and then I had some bushwhacking about the end, and you certainly don’t want to end it problems, not a whole lot of fun, but you know, in a mountain stream, and when you pull that off like they say, it’s part of the experience, makes you and get him out of there, and you sit down, and you appreciate some of the alpine trips or glacier type think about what you’re doing, and you make it back, stuff that you can do, when you have to deal with wow, it’s pretty neat. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) the alders and the bugs and stuff like that. Builds character. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) I guess initially I was afraid that we were gonna go out here and get eaten by a bear, so we came up here I mean when you wander off through the woods and with guns and you know, protective things, and I it finally gets so overgrown that you think that 25 realize at this point the only thing you need to protect feet a minute is the best you can do, and you just yourself from is yourself, ’cause you can get out here keep going, keep going. You finally get out and you and if you don’t have confidence in yourself and sit down on the sandbar and you wait for the airplane knowing where you’re going, you could hurt yourself and you go, “Ah, I did it.” Something right there easy. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) [pointing to his heart], it clicks, and it makes you feel good about yourself. (A wilderness visitor’s voice) These wilderness voices are not the only voices for Alaska wilderness. In this compilation, we have failed to represent It was a rough trip. We probably hiked 10 to 12 hours a day, a lot of it through brush, bushwhacking, no those distant people who only dream of visiting Alaska trail. I guess we probably hiked through 12 miles of wilderness, or those who never plan to visit but take pleasure brush … but I mean brush where you’re just tearing in knowing it exists. There are also outfitters and guides, away at it, and it’s over your head, that was the worst, pilots, dog mushers, lodge owners, miners, loggers, anglers, but pretty country, high country. No trees, just brush skiers, mountain climbers, and hunters that could tell us and mountain and rock, a lot of rock, a lot of moraine. about their relationships with wilderness, if we only listen (A wilderness visitor’s voice) (see Figure 2). But, the generations of the future cannot The Value of Fear speak to us, so it is our responsibility to try to imagine how The experience of fear in a wild landscape, even of important wilderness will be to them in their time. short duration, leads to a reorientation of mind. It can clear out the clutter of the modern scene and allow one to see life and land in a new context. … My time in Alaska … and on the Mogollon Rim with my father, was a coming of age. (Luna Leopold 2000, p. 6)

It’s a very beautiful place. People that don’t believe [he pauses as he tears up], people that don’t have any fear of life or have experience with making it on their own or being independent, or doing things and making for themselves have no concept of what this is about. Backpacking to me initially was a sport that you went out and you did, and I guess I thought you hiked trails where people had been, maybe like Rocky Mountain National Park. You come up here and there’s Figure 2—“In the Lower 48, the wilderness is surrounded by development. In none of that available, so you realize that you’re out Alaska, the development is surrounded by wilderness, and that is surrounded by in the element, and you can die real quick, so you wilderness” (student at the University of Alaska, Anchorage). Photo courtesy of Leopold Institute. take that into consideration and what you’re doing,

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 7 REFERENCES Milkweed Editions. ALAN E. WATSON, KATIE KNEESHAW Bastedo, J. 1998. Reaching North. Red Deer, Leopold, L. 2000. A value in fear: Some rivers and BRIAN GLASPELL are respectively, Alberta, Canada: Red Deer College Press. remembered. IJW, 6 (3): 4–6. Research Social Scientist, Research Glaspell, B., A. Watson, K. Kneeshaw, and D. McPhee, J. 1979. Coming into the Country. New Assistant in Social Science, and Post- Pendergrast. 2003. Selecting indicators and York: Bantam Books. Doctoral Research Social Scientist at the understanding their role in wilderness Murie, M. E. 1997. Two in the Far North. Port- Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, experience stewardship in Gates of the Arctic land, OR: Alaska Northwest Books. Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807 USA; Alan E. National Park and Preserve. The George Smith, A. E.; M. Anderson; H. Kendall-Miller; Wright Forum, 20 (3): 59–71. and P. Van Tuyn. 2000. Alaska National Watson E-mail: [email protected]. Glaspell, B., and A. Watson. 2003. 2002 Interest Lands Conservation Act Citizens’ Wrangell-St. Elias Fall Visitor Study. Report Guide. Anchorage, AK: The Wilderness From BIG FIVE on page 17 to the National Park Service. Society. Hedin, R.; and G. Holthaus. 1989. Alaska: Strickland, R. 1992. Alaskans: Life on the Last wilderness identified by The Wilder- Reflections on Land and Spirit. Tucson: The Frontier. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. University of Arizona Press. Thoreau, H. D. 1950. Walden and Other Writ- ness Society. Often, Alaska’s massive Kneeshaw, K., A. Watson, and B. Glaspell. ings of Henry David Thoreau. New York: conservation system units consist of 2004. Understanding Wilderness Visitor Random House. large areas of rock and ice punctuated Experiences at Wrangell-St. Elias National Waterman, J. 1998. In the Shadow of Denali: Park and Preserve in the Alaska Regional Life and Death on Alaska’s Mt. McKinley. by pockets of ecologically rich and Context: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park New York: Dell Publishing. valuable habitat. It is imperative that and Preserve Summer 2003 Visitor Study. Whiting, A. 2004. The Relationship between these ecologically rich areas, or bio- Report to the National Park Service. Qikiktagrugmiut (Kotzebue Tribal Members) logical hearts, retain their wilderness Lentfer, H.; and C. Servid. 2001. Arctic Refuge: and the Western Arctic Parklands, Alaska, A circle of testimony. Minneapolis, MN: United States, IJW 10(2) (this issue). integrity. This action is necessary in order to maintain diverse wildlife populations, Alaskan subsistence cul- From RELATIONSHIP on page 31 tures, and our natural and wild heritage for generations to come. Anchorage: U.S. National Park Service. Leopold, A. 1949. A Sand County Almanac REFERENCES and Sketches Here and There. UK: Oxford Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 2000. University Press. Tongass Road Condition Survey Report. Norris, F. B. 2002. Alaska Subsistence: A National Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act Park Service Management History. Alaska (16 U.S.C. 3170), Sec. 1110.(a). Support Office, National Park Service, Anchor- Amstrup, S. C. and C. Gardner. 1994. Polar age: U.S. Department of the Interior. bear maternity denning the Beaufort Sea. Stadel, A., R. Taniton, and H. Heder. 2002. Journal of Wildlife Management, 58: 1–10. Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strat- ANILCA Report of the Senate Committee on egy: How community values are shaping the Energy and Natural Resources. 1980. Sen- protection of wild spaces and heritage ate Rep. No. 96-413, at 247-48, reprinted places. In A. E. Watson, L. Alessa, and J. in 1980, U.S.C.C.A.N. 5191–92. Sproull, comps. 2002. Wilderness in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2001. Refuge Circumpolar North; Searching for Compat- bird List. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Figure 4—Respondents attach value to opportunities to show ibility in Ecological, Traditional, and official website: http://www.r7.fws.gov/ children how the land provides what they need to survive. Photo Ecotourism Values. (20–26). Proceedings nwr/arctic/muskox.html. by Siikauraq Whiting. RMRS-P-26. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department U.S. Forest Service. Chugach National Forest, of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Moun- Revised Land Resource Management Plan, tain Research Station. Juneau, AK: 3–21 and 4–91. Wilderness Research Institute which Watson, A., L. Alessa, and B. Glaspell. 2003. funded the project. Henry Huntington The relationship between traditional ecologi- NICOLE WHITTINGTON-EVANS is the provided assistance with project and cal knowledge, evolving cultures, and wil- assistant regional director with the Alaska paper development. Siikauraq Whiting derness protection in the circumpolar north. Office of The Wilderness Society. She can Conservation Ecology, 8(1): 2. [online]: be reached at [email protected]. and Jeff Johnson provided editorial http://www.consecol.org/vol8/iss1/art2. comments. Don’t Miss the ALEX WHITING is environmental protection REFERENCES specialist, Native village of Kotzebue, P.O. Burch, E. S., Jr. 2003. The Cultural and Natural Box 296, Kotzebue, AK 99752, USA. E-mail: Heritage of Northwest Alaska: Volume VI— [email protected]. 30 September to 6 October 2005 The Organization of National Life in ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Kotzebue. NANA Museum of the Arctic and www.8wwc.org

8 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 STEWARDSHIP

Wilderness in a Changing Alaska

Managing for Resilience

BY F. STUART CHAPIN, III, LAURA HENRY, and LA’ONA DEWILDE

Forces Shaping Alaskan Wilderness Wilderness is popularly viewed as a pristine land without people, a land that changes only by “natural” processes, unaffected by human actions. Wilderness, however, is a dynamic system in which physical, ecological, and cultural processes interact in ways that retain their natural essence and are resilient to perturbations. Alaska is widely recog- nized as a region that has retained its wilderness character. In this article, we briefly probe the history, dynamics, and Article co-authors (l to r) F. Stuart Chapin, III; Laura Henry; and La’ona DeWilde possible future of Alaskan wilderness, with an emphasis on the role of people as an integral component of the system. People have been an integral component of Alaskan eco- The topographic diversity of Alaska is a product of its systems for at least 11,000 years (Aigner 1986). However, geologic history. Terranes of multiple origin rafted across due to its low productivity and harsh environmental condi- the Pacific Ocean and collided with the North American tions, interior Alaska has always had a relatively low density Plate, producing mountain ranges that include the highest of human inhabitants. During much of its human history, peaks in North America (Thorson 1986). These mountains Alaska has been occupied by multiple cultures, each of which also contribute to Alaska’s climatic diversity by intercept- interacted with its environment in substantially different ways. ing the rainfall that generates temperate rain forests in For example, depending on the region, the primary subsis- southeastern Alaska. blocking moisture from the continen- tence base has been fish, marine mammals, or terrestrial tal areas of interior Alaska, and focusing the frontal mammals (Langdon 1986; Burch 1998). During its period boundary between the cold air mass of the arctic slope and of human habitation, Alaska has experienced both gradual more moderate climates to the south (Gallant et al. 1995). and abrupt change. Climate warmed rapidly at the end of These climatic patterns result in a large-scale mosaic of the Pleistocene to its thermal maximum about 9,000 years forests, tundra, glaciers, and wetlands that are home to both ago. Subsequently, there has been a gradual cooling and cli- permanent residents and migratory animals such as tropical mate moistening, a rising sea level that inundated the land songbirds, salmon, and whales. During glacial periods, Alaska bridge to Asia, and melting continental glaciers that had iso- was functionally part of the Asian continent and isolated from lated Alaska from the rest of North America. the rest of North America by glaciers. In warmer periods, These trends led to large-scale changes in vegetation. For Alaska’s biological links have been with North America. This example, in interior Alaska, which was never glaciated, there biogeographic ambivalence, combined with topographic and were gradual changes from steppe tundra typical of glacial times climatic diversity, has contributed to unusually high biologi- to poplar forests to white spruce forests to black spruce forests. cal diversity for a region of such high latitude (Walker 1995). This last change occurred abruptly 6,000 years ago, when black

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 9 million acres (18.2 million ha) of land In Alaska, wilderness is the matrix that surrounds and payment for the remaining ap- proximately 300 million acres (121.5 relatively small areas of more intense human activity. million ha) of land, which were trans- ferred to state and federal ownership. spruce became widespread in response large climatic and cultural changes. Through ANCSA, Native Alaskans to the moistening climate. Its high flam- People have been part of these ecosys- gave up management of natural re- mability caused a sudden increase in fire tems for most of their history and have sources on government land, frequency, instituting a new disturbance both responded to and contributed to including traditional hunting and regime that has persisted to the present the changes that have occurred. gathering practices (Ross 2000). (Lynch et al. 2003). In northern Alaska, The passage of the Alaska National vegetation changed from steppe tundra Recent Changes in Alaska Interest Lands Conservation Act to poplar forests to the current mosaic If people are an integral component of (ANILCA) in 1980 designated 225 mil- of arctic tundra vegetation types. The regional systems, cultural changes in lion acres (91.1 million ha) of Alaska well-developed megafauna of mam- political and economic systems will land for federal ownership, establishing moths, bison, and horses that had been likely affect regional ecology. Russian the status of key areas recognized for in Alaska for hundreds of thousands of and European colonization of Alaska their scenic and/or ecological value (Ross years disappeared during the last sev- initiated a relationship between people 2000). ANICLA also opened the door eral thousand years. Other components and the land that was qualitatively dif- for designation of federal wilderness ar- of the Pleistocene megafauna such as ferent from that of its original eas while concurrently restoring some caribou and moose have persisted. The inhabitants, who were an integral part of the rights of Native Alaskans to prac- relative importance of changes in cli- of the ecosystems that they occupied tice traditional hunting and gathering on mate, vegetation, and human hunting (Watson et al. 2003). For example, government lands. However, the state in triggering the change in megafauna is Russian fur traders on the coast of of Alaska and the federal government still actively debated (Zimov et al. 1995; Alaska and Canadian fur traders in in- have never agreed on how to manage Guthrie 2003). Alaskan ecosystems have terior Alaska used ecosystems as a the subsistence practices on public continued to change over the last 6,000 source of materials to be extracted and lands, resulting in different management years in response to climatic variation, exported for profit. Similar motivation policies for different types of public but these changes have been smaller in launched a fishing industry in coastal lands. In federal wilderness, Native sub- magnitude and more reversible than Alaska and a gold rush in interior sistence rights to hunting and gathering those that occurred earlier, indicating Alaska in the early 20th century (Naske remain and are defined as “customary substantial resilience to small-scale en- and Slotnick 1987). European diseases and traditional uses by rural residents vironmental change. reduced the Native population of of wild, recoverable resources for direct In summary, prior to white contact, Alaska substantially and introduced personal or family consumption.” Alaskan ecosystems underwent re- new technologies such as rifles, fish- (ANILCA 1980 in Watson et al. 2003). peated changes in climate, biota, and nets, and motorized transport. Native Alaskans were not displaced culture. None of Alaska’s current eco- When Alaska became a state in from their original homes to reserva- systems or cultures was present 10,000 1959, many land ownership issues tions, as in the Lower 48. Thus, in the years ago, and substantial changes have were unresolved. In 1971, the federal Lower 48, land unoccupied by white continued even during the past 5,000 government ostensibly settled the land people had almost no inhabitants, but years. Nonetheless, Alaska ecosystems claims of Alaska’s Native people in Alaska, many of the lands remote have retained the basic nature of eco- through the Alaska Native Claims from the road network continued to system processes, including the flow of Settlement Act (ANCSA), through be inhabited by both Native and energy; recycling of nutrients; diversity which Native corporations were estab- white people, who maintained close of plants, animals, and cultures; and the lished. The Alaska Federation of cultural and subsistence ties to the relationships between local people and Natives, as a representative of Native land. Thus the Eurocentric concept of their environments. These systems have Alaskans, negotiated with the federal wilderness as an area where “man continued to support a diversity of government, with the result that the himself is a visitor who does not remain” human and nonhuman life, despite new corporations received title to 45 (The Wilderness Act 1964) has never

10 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 to land and animals contributed to the and the land is qualitatively different from shift toward western energy and food the cultural and subsistence uses by sources. Although Native lifestyles are rural residents (Klein 2002). still changing, there remains a strong Although we cannot predict the pre- cultural and economic dependence on cise future of Alaska wilderness, we the land—a dependence that today is know that it will be different from what supported by modern means of trans- characterizes it today. The climate of port. The role of such technology in Alaska is now warming as rapidly as Figure 1—The centralization of families into permanent communities such as Fort Yukon changes designated wilderness areas is a mul- any place on Earth (Serreze et al. 2000; the relationship with traditional lands. Photo by tifaceted issue that has no simple Krupnik and Jolly 2002). This region, Qamar Schuyler. answer and continues to be debated. whose climate has long resisted inva- In summary, remote portions of Alaska sions of exotic species, is now being characterized the remote regions of Alaska have been remarkably resilient to the colonized by new plants and animals. (Huntington 2002; Watson et al. 2003). massive changes of the last century. The Salmon populations are changing in Yet in the continually changing wil- population density in most of rural Alaska response to climate, commercial fish- derness of Alaska, Native Alaskans’ has increased during the last 50 years ing, and potentially the introduction of lives differ significantly from those of (Anonymous 1997), although local pat- escaped farm salmon. The culture of their ancestors. Whereas most Native terns of distribution are quite different. rural Alaska and the institutions that groups of Alaska were once seasonally Most people who live off the road net- manage Alaskan lands are undergoing and annually mobile, moving through- work still maintain strong cultural and change. There is growing pressure from out the year to access different types subsistence ties to the land, despite radi- tourism, as an expanding world popu- of resources, they are now settled in cal changes in land tenure, community lation increasingly values and seeks to permanent villages (see Figure 1) that structure, and technology (see Figure 2). experience Alaskan wilderness. Al- are tied to schools, stores, churches, In these areas people still consider them- though we cannot predict the precise airports, and opportunities for perma- selves part of the same land that visitors nature of the future Alaskan wilderness, nent or seasonal wage jobs, usually view as wilderness (Huntington 2002; we can be absolutely certain that it will with tribal or governmental agencies Watson et al. 2003). Other impacts or differ in important respects from the (Langdon 1986). This reduction in recent change have left a more indelible landscape of today. mobility associated with establishment mark. These include seismic trails and of permanent villages has been com- gravel roads associated with oil develop- Conceptual Framework for pensated to some extent by more ment, which have thawed the permafrost Wilderness Stewardship efficient transport such as snowmo- and altered hydrology. These geomorphic The challenge of wilderness stewardship biles and outboard motors, which are changes will remain imprinted on the is to manage the inevitable changes that now an integral part of subsistence land for thousands of years until the natu- will occur in ways that maintain the key hunting and allow people to access a ral processes of erosion and deposition cultural and ecological qualities of Alaska larger area. This technology, however, gradually reshape the landscape. This wilderness. This goal requires that we ties people to a wage economy, and relationship between industrial activities manage not for a set of uniform physi- the regional ecological effects of these cal attributes but for protection of a more sedentary subsistence patterns wilderness character that is difficult to are not yet known (Gerlach et al. in define but which acknowledges the in- press). In addition, after Native popu- tegral nature of the dynamic relationship lations were reduced by disease and between people and the land. There is a centralized in permanent villages, chil- growing literature on managing social- dren were often raised or taught by ecological systems (i.e., systems in which missionaries who did not allow them people are an integral component) for to speak their language or practice resilience in the face of uncertain but Figure 2—The use of motorized boats to access their own religion. The resulting loss portions of the river distant from communities inevitable change rather than managing of native language, legends, and depth maintains traditional access of Native Alaskans to the to prevent change (Folke et al. 2002; of understanding of the relationship land. Photo by Laura Henry. Gunderson and Holling 2002; Berkes et

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 11 al. 2003). In this context, resilience is 2. Recognizing change as a natural underlying controls, such as the the capacity of a system to absorb shocks feature of social-ecological sys- economic viability of rural com- and still maintain its essential character- tems, thus munities, patterns of fuel buildup, istics. This framework seems particularly a, Creating conditions that allow or the development of effective appropriate for Alaska wilderness, where modest change rather than seek- institutions for co-management of there are still strong cultural ties of local ing to prevent change, which resources. Wilderness planning residents to the land and where there is may create conditions that make will fail if it focuses only on im- a growing interest among nonresidents catastrophic change more likely mediate crises without studying in nonconsumptive use of Alaskan wil- (Holling 1986). For example, fire ways in which appropriate rela- derness. Managing for resilience would suppression, which reduces the tionships between people and the have the following attributes: probability of wildfire in the short land can be protected or restored. 1. Sustaining diversity, including: term, increases the probability of 4. Anticipating variability and a. Maintaining large management future larger fires. However, care- change, including: units with a wide range of eco- fully designed prescribed fires a. Anticipating predictable change. logical and topographic diversity near communities can enhance These include warming effects so organisms can migrate in re- wildlife habitat and reduce the on permafrost and infrastruc- sponse to future climate changes probability of large fires that de- ture, increased visitor impact on rather than being trapped in a stroy property; these fires might Alaskan wilderness, and an ice- local preserve that becomes otherwise become more likely in free Arctic Ocean that increases gradually less suitable as habi- a warming climate. the economic feasibility of arctic tat (Elmqvist et al. 2003). b. Treating crises as an opportunity oil development (Chapin et al. b. Facilitating institutional diver- for change (Gunderson and 2004). Planning in the context sity, including multiple types of Holling 2002). When institutional, of these anticipated changes co-management arrangements economic, and other crises occur, provides a context exploring with local residents who have it becomes easier to initiate change, long-term solutions that are extensive experience in manag- because it is clear that the current more likely to be viable. ing local resources (Berkes and system no longer functions effec- b. Expecting surprises. We can Folke 1998). By treating man- tively. Such crises should be used never predict everything that will agement as an experiment rather as opportunities to think outside happen, so planning that fosters than a single monolithic entity, the box for novel solutions that diversity, learning, and flexibility it is more likely that novel effec- address future needs. provides an environment that is tive solutions will emerge that c. Treating changes that do occur as more likely to cope effectively mesh well with local conditions. opportunities to learn. Many of with unanticipated changes. However, institutional changes the changes that occur outside a can either strengthen or degrade wilderness context (e.g., industrial Conclusions wilderness character and must development, predator control, Alaskan wilderness has a different be approached cautiously. commercial salmon harvest) pro- character than small reserves, which c. Allowing for cultural diversity in vide opportunities to learn about remain in more populated regions of which people with different cul- the vulnerability of social-ecologi- the world. In Alaska, wilderness is the tural ties to the land (e.g., cal systems to radical change. matrix that surrounds relatively small subsistence users and backpack- 3. Focusing on the variables that areas of more intense human activity. ers) may interact with the land regulate long-term change (Car- Planning for the long-term integrity of in different, but equally appro- penter and Turner 2000). Crisis this wilderness in the face of certain priate, ways. management that focuses on issues changes in climate, culture, and d. Recognizing that diversity in- of most immediate public concern economy is a serious challenge, but it creases the range of surprises (e.g., a road, fire, or particular represents an opportunity to think with which a system can cope regulation) is often less effective creatively about the deepest values that without danger of radical over the long term than steward- underlie the human need to be a part change in essential properties. ship focused on the important of wilderness in an enduring fashion.

12 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 Acknowledgments Wilderness, however, is a dynamic system in which These ideas were developed in the Inte- grative Graduate Education and Research physical, ecological, and cultural processes interact in Training program in Regional Resilience ways that retain their natural essence and are and Adaptation and the Human Dimen- sions of the Arctic System project on resilient to perturbations. Human-Fire Interactions (National Sci- ence Foundation grants DEB-0114423 Resilience and sustainable development: graphical and temporal variations in fire and OPP-0328282). We thank Sarah Building adaptive capacity in a world of trans- history in boreal ecosystems of Alaska. Jour- formations. Series on Science for Sustainable nal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, Trainor, Craig Gerlach, and Gary Kofinas Development, No. 3, ICSU. 108 (D1): Art. no. 8152. for constructive comments. Gallant, A. L., E. F. Binnian, J. M. Omernik, and Naske, C.-M., and H. E. Slotnick. 1987. Alaska: M. B. Shasby. 1995. Ecoregions of Alaska. A History of the 49th State, 2nd ed. Norman: REFERENCES U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper University of Oklahoma Press. Aigner, J. S. 1986. Footprints on the land: The 1567. Washington, DC: U. S. Department Ross, K. 2000. Environmental Conflict in Alaska. origins of interior Alaska’s people. In J. S. of the Interior. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. Aigner, R. D. Guthrie, M. L. Guthrie, F. Nelson, Gerlach, S. C., L. Henry, and A. Turner. In press. Serreze, M. C., J. E. Walsh, F. S. Chapin, III, T. W. S. Schneider, and R. M. Thorson, eds. Inte- Regional foods, food systems, security and Osterkamp, M. Dyurgerov, V. Romanovsky, rior Alaska: A Journey through Time, 97–146. risk in rural Alaska. In L. Duffy, ed. Circum- W. C. Oechel, J. Morison, T. Zhang, and R. Anchorage, AK: Alaska Geographic Society. polar Environmental Science: Current Issues G. Barry. 2000. Observational evidence of Anonymous. 1997. The Alaska Almanac: Facts in Resources, Health and Policy. Fairbanks: recent change in the northern high-latitude about Alaska, 21st ed. Anchorage, AK: University of Alaska Press. environment. Climatic Change, 46: 159–207. Northwest Books. Gunderson, L. H., and C. S. Holling, eds. 2002. Thorson, R. M. 1986. The ceaseless context: Land- Berkes, F., and C. Folke. 1998. Linking social Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in scapes in the making. In J. S. Aigner, R. D. and ecological systems for resilience and Human and Natural Systems. Washington, Guthrie, M. L. Guthrie, R. K. Nelson, W. S. sustainability. In F. Berkes and C. Folke, eds. DC: Island Press. Schneider, and R. M. Thorson, eds. Interior Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Man- Guthrie, R. D. 2003. Rapid body size decline Alaska: A Journey through Time. Anchorage, agement Practices and Social Mechanisms in Alaskan Pleistocene horses before extinc- Alaska, AK: Geographic Society, for Building Resilience, 1–25. Cambridge, tion. Nature 426: 169–171. Walker, M. 1995. Patterns and causes of arctic UK: Cambridge University Press. Holling, C. S. 1986. Resilience of ecosystems: plant community diversity. In F. S. Chapin, III, Berkes, F., J. Colding, and C. Folke, eds. 2003. Local surprise and global change. In W. C. and C. Körner, eds. Arctic and Alpine Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Build- Clark and R. E. Munn, eds. Sustainable De- Biodiversity: Patterns, Causes and Ecosystem ing Resilience for Complexity and Change. velopment and the Biosphere, 292–317. Consequences, 3–20. Berlin, Springer-Verlag. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Watson, A., L. Alessa, and B. Glaspell. 2003. Burch, E. S., Jr. 1998. The Inupiaq Eskimo Na- Huntington, H. 2002. Can traditional ecologi- The relationship between traditional ecologi- tions of Northwest Alaska. Fairbanks, AK: cal knowledge and wilderness benefit one cal knowledge, evolving cultures, and wil- University of Alaska Press. another? In A. Watson, L. Alessa, and J. derness protection in the circumpolar north. Carpenter, S. R., and M. G. Turner. 2000. Hares Sproull, eds. Wilderness in the Circumpolar Conservation Ecology, 8: http:// and tortoises: Interactions of fast and slow vari- North: Searching for Compatibility in Tra- www.consecol.org/vol8/iss1/art2. ables in ecosystems. Ecosystems, 3: 495–497. ditional, Ecotourism, and Ecological Values, Zimov, S. A., V. I. Chuprynin, A. P. Oreshko, F. S. Chapin, F. S., III, G. Peterson, F. Berkes, T. V. 64–68. Anchorage, AK: U.S. Department Chapin, III, J. F. Reynolds, and M. C. Chapin. Callaghan, P. Angelstam, M. Apps, C. Beier, of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Moun- 1995. Steppe-tundra transition: An herbivore- Y. Bergeron, A.-S. Crepin, T. Elmqvist, C. tain Research Station, Ogden, UT. driven biome shift at the end of the Pleistocene. Folke, B. Forbes, N. Fresco, G. Juday, J. Klein, D. R. 2002. Perspectives on wilderness American Naturalist, 146: 765–794. Niemela, A. Shvidenko, and G. Whiteman. in the Arctic. In A. Watson, L. Alessa, and J. 2004. Resilience and vulnerability of northern Sproull, eds. Wilderness in the Circumpolar F. STUART CHAPIN, III is professor of regions to social and environmental change. North: Searching for Compatibility in Tra- ecology in the Institute of Arctic Biology, Ambio, 33: 342–347. ditional, Ecotourism, and Ecological Values, University of Alaska–Fairbanks and Elmqvist, T., C. Folke, M. Nyström, G. Peterson, 1–6. Anchorage, AK: U.S. Department of director of the Resilience and Adaptation J. Bengtsson, B. Walker, and J. Norberg. Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Program. E-mail: [email protected]. 2003. Response diversity, ecosystem Research Station, Ogden, UT. LAURA HENRY is a graduate student in change, and resilience. Frontiers in Ecology Krupnik, I., and D. Jolly, eds. 2002. The Earth is anthropology, University of Alaska– Faster Now: Indigenous Observations of Arctic and the Environment, 1: 488–494. Fairbanks and a student in the Resilience Folke, C., S. Carpenter, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson, Environmental Change. Fairbanks, AK: Arctic and Adaptation Program. E-mail: C. S. Holling, B. Walker, J. Bengtsson, F. Research Consortium of the United States. [email protected]. LA’ONA DEWILDE is a Berkes, J. Colding, K. Danell, M. Falkermanr, Langdon, S. J., ed. 1986. Contemporary Alas- L. Gordon, R. Kasperson, N. Kaursky, A. kan Native Economies. Lanham, MD: Uni- graduate of the Resilience and Adaptation Kinzig, S. Levin, K.-G. Maler, F. Moberg, L. versity Press of America. Program at the University of Alaska and a Ohlsson, P. Olsson, E. Ostrom, W. Reid, J. Lynch, J. A., J. S. Clark, N. H. Bigelow, M. E. resident of the Native community of Huslia. Rockstrom, H. Savenije, and U. Svedin. 2002. Edwards, and B. P. Finney. 2003. Geo- E-mail: [email protected].

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 13 STEWARDSHIP

Alaska’s Big Five

Significant Threats to Wilderness Resources

BY NICOLE WHITTINGTON-EVANS

The Big Five Threats Arctic, and subsequently In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation the subsistence cultures Act (ANILCA) established 56.5 million acres (22.8 million that depend on these ha) of federally designated wilderness land and 26 wild lands, are threatened by oil and scenic rivers in Alaska. These wilderness areas are in and gas development. Alaska’s national parks, refuges, and forests. The Tongass Timber Reform Act designated close to an additional Arctic National Wildlife 300,000 acres (121,458 ha) of wilderness on the Tongass Refuge National Forest in 1990. In addition to this legally pro- At 19.5 million acres (7.9 tected wilderness resource, inventories suggest that over million ha), the Arctic Ref- 100 million additional acres (40.5 million ha) of Alaska’s uge is the largest in the Article author Nicole Whittington-Evans federal land qualifies for future wilderness consideration. nation. It protects a full with daughter, Rya, hiking in Denali However, there are five major threats to the wilderness re- range of North American National Park. Photo by Chris Whittington-Evans. sources of Alaska, identified by The Wilderness Society, that Arctic ecosystems. Incom- are not defended against by wilderness designation. parably rich in wildlife diversity, the refuge supports the three species of bear found in North America (polar, griz- Oil and Gas Development on Alaska’s zly, and black), caribou, muskoxen, moose, Dall sheep, North Slope wolves, wolverines, and about 180 bird species (USFWS Perhaps the area of Alaska most threatened from oil and 2001). The coastal plain of the refuge is a summer haven gas development is our only piece of the Arctic—Alaska’s for much of this wildlife. It provides birthing grounds for north slope. Alaska’s north slope includes a vast block of the Porcupine caribou herd, numbering approximately land bound by the spine of the Brooks Range to the south, 130,000, which travels hundreds of miles annually from and slopes northward to the Arctic Ocean. Federal lands its wintering grounds to reach this unique habitat. The on the north slope encompass portions of the Arctic Na- coastal plain also contains the most important onshore den- tional Wildlife Refuge, including the coastal plain, which is ning habitat for the Beaufort Sea polar bear population in not protected under The Wilderness Act, and approximately the United States (Amstrup and Gardner 1994). 23 million acres (9.3 million ha) of public lands in the When ANILCA was passed, the U.S. Congress doubled Western Arctic. the size of the originally established Arctic National Wildlife In a recent congressionally mandated report entitled Range to 19 million acres (7.7 million ha), designating 8 Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on million acres (3.2 million ha) as wilderness, and renamed Alaska’s North Slope, the National Academy of Sciences Na- it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. However, the coastal tional Research Council documented significant plain, often referred to as the biological heart of the refuge, environmental and cultural effects resulting from three de- was not included in the wilderness designations. cades of oil development on Alaska’s north slope. There is Developing the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge will little doubt that the integrity of wilderness lands in America’s not only significantly impact the wilderness and wildlife

14 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 values of the area, but will also under- offers leases on 100% of the northwest northern goshawks, and five species of mine the spiritual and cultural center planning area of the reserve, and we Pacific salmon, the dense old-growth of an indigenous peoples—the anticipate the Teshekpuk Lake area in forest of the Tongass provides vital fish Gwich’in Athabaskan peoples of the northeast planning area will be and wildlife habitat. Alaska and Canada. The Arctic Refuge offered next—an important wildlife More than 6 million acres (2.4 mil- coastal plain is considered a sacred and subsistence area that historically lion ha) of the Tongass are protected place by the Gwich’in, who refer to has been protected. Furthermore, either by wilderness designation or by themselves as the “caribou people.” there are plans for offshore oil and gas a special congressional designation They depend on the Porcupine cari- leasing across the entire arctic coast- that does not allow road building. In bou herd for their subsistence way of line to the Canadian border, and the addition, inventoried roadless areas life—their food, culture, and spiritual state of Alaska just announced its in- comprise more than 9 million acres identity. Invading this narrow stretch tention to offer leases, that had (3.6 million ha) of the forest. of ecologically rich habitat with oil and previously been deferred, offshore of Since the 1950s, the Tongass has ex- gas development is a direct threat to the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge perienced significant levels and effects the caribou and the Gwich’in people. and the NPRA (see Figure 1). of clear-cut logging (see Figure 2). For example, more than 5,000 miles Western Arctic Logging in Alaska’s (8,065 kilometers) of roads exist on Among the public lands in the west- Rain Forest the Tongass, which have fragmented ern Arctic is the 23.5-million-acre Alaska’s old-growth, temperate rain for- wildlife habitat, impaired spawning (9.5-million-ha) National Petroleum est encompasses over 1,000 miles (1,613 streams, and otherwise significantly Reserve, which contains valuable habi- kilometers) of coastline and is one of the damaged ecosystem values on the for- tat for polar bears, caribou, and largest remaining in the world. Com- est. The Alaska Department of Fish millions of migratory birds. Made up posed primarily of the nearly 22 million and Game issued a report indicating of lakes, wetlands, coastal lagoons, riv- acres (8.9 million ha) of the Tongass and that two-thirds of the culverts across ers, upland foothills, and mountains, Chugach National Forests, Alaska’s rain anadromous streams on the Tongass it is America’s single largest block of forest is a unique and globally signifi- are not adequate for fish passage undeveloped wildlands. The reserve cant natural resource. (ADF&G 2000). supports the primary calving grounds Nevertheless, roadless area protec- for Alaska’s largest caribou herd, the Tongass National Forest tions put in place by the Roadless Area Western Arctic caribou herd, which At nearly 17 million acres (6.9 million Conservation Rule (2001) were removed totals more than 430,000 animals. In ha), the Tongass National Forest is from the Tongass National Forest in addition, it contains important marine America’s largest national forest. An ex- December 2003. We anticipate the mammal habitat for beluga whales and traordinary collage of spotted seals and habitat for anadro- fjords, glaciers, forested mous fish and nesting peregrine islands, and moun- falcons. The Inupiaq and other Alaska tains, the Tongass Natives there depend on these re- makes up a majority of sources for their subsistence culture. the Alexander Archi- Established in 1923, the reserve pelago creating southeast was set aside as an emergency oil sup- Alaska. Towering groves ply for defense needs. Although there of Sitka spruce and is no question that oil and gas devel- western hemlock grow opment will proceed in the reserve, to be more than 200 such development should not occur feet tall and live as long prior to protection of critical wildlife, as 1,000 years in this wilderness, and subsistence resources. lush forest. Home to Current oil and gas leasing plans healthy populations of are the most aggressive this nation has brown and black bears, Figure 1—Current and proposed north slope oil and gas leases on Alaska’s north slope. seen for U.S. Arctic. A recent decision wolves, bald eagles, Courtesy of Ecotrust.

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 15 However, some agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) (2002), as well as individuals, have interpreted traditional uses to include recreational activities. Others, including The Wil- derness Society, assert that Congress never intended to include recreational activities as customary and traditional. Cross-country, recreational motorized uses in Alaska’s conservation system units are increasingly degrading wil- derness lands.

Chugach National Forest Alaska’s Chugach National Forest— encompassing 5.5 million acres (2.2 Figure 2—Clear-cut logging in the Tongass National Forest. Photo by Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. million ha)—includes the northern- most temperate rain forest in the Chugach National Forest will be exempt displacement from important habitats, nation. Home to wolves, grizzly bears, from Roadless Rule protections in the disruption of feeding activities, alter- sea otters, orcas, and other sensitive near future. Meanwhile, plans are in the ation in habitat use, and depletion of wildlife species, the Chugach includes works for approximately 50 timber critical energy supplies in individual tidewater glaciers, towering mountain projects in roadless areas of the Tongass animals. peaks, alpine tundra, and some of the over the next 10 years. richest wild salmon spawning streams Motorized Use in America. Although 99% of the Recreational Off-road Congress created limited exceptions in Chugach is classified as roadless and ANILCA to the restrictions normally qualifies for wilderness designation, Vehicle Use and RS2477 implemented for motorized uses in con- there is no designated wilderness on Right-of-Ways servation system units, including the forest. Motorized recreational use and RS2477 designated wilderness. These were im- The USFS recently revised the Right-of-Ways pose some of the most portant exceptions necessary to Chugach National Forest Land Man- pervasive and growing threats to wil- accommodate and maintain opportuni- agement Plan, in which they reduced derness areas in Alaska. A 1996 study ties for legitimate subsistence uses, wilderness recommendations from 1.6 by the state of Alaska’s Department of which honor Alaska Natives and other million acres (0.6 million ha) recom- Natural Resources indicates that in their rural Alaskans and their subsistence way mended in 1984 to 1.4 million acres south-central Alaska study area (a 34 mil- of life. Specifically, ANILCA allows snow (0.5 million ha) and opened up close lion acre (13.8 million ha) area defined by machines, motorboats, and fixed-wing to 87% of the forest to cross-country the Alaska Range on the west and north, aircraft to be used in designated wilder- winter motorized use. This area in- the Richardson Highway through Valdez ness and other conservation system units cludes the approximately 2 million on the east, and inclusive of the Kenai for traditional subsistence activities. acre (0.8 million ha) congressionally Peninsula), 95% of the total acreage is As outlined in the ANILCA Report designated Nellie-Juan/College Fiord currently managed as open to snow- of the Senate Committee on Energy and Wilderness Study Area. Allowing this machine access. Wilderness values, Natural Resources, “customary and tra- level of winter motorized use on the such as wildlife, solitude, scenic land- ditional uses” include travel to and Chugach, with little area for scapes, natural soundscapes, air quality, from homesites, travel to and from vil- nonmotorized refugia, may prove very and natural odors, among others, are lages, and taking resources for damaging to wildlife, given that the threatened by motorized intrusions. subsistence purposes, such as subsis- winter environment often creates the Documented impacts to wildife from tence and sport hunting, fishing, and greatest levels of stress in wildlife due motorized activities include harassment, berry picking (Senate Report 1980). to environmental factors.

16 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Although Alaska is a land with extraordinary and Preserve, which at 13.2 million acres (5.3 million ha) is America’s largest vast wilderness values, it is experiencing widespread national park and contains the big- and multifaceted threats to its wilderness resources. gest block of designated wilderness land (>9 million acres; 3.6 million ha) in the nation, is experiencing all-ter- within our national parks “shall not be highway right-of-way claims pose one rain-vehicle (ATV) use that is exercised in derogation of the values of the most significant threats to damaging this scenic and ecological and purposes for which these various wilderness today. jewel. Six times the size of areas have been established.” Clearly, Yellowstone National Park, Wrangell- this is an example of an activity that is Planning Efforts without St. Elias is unmatched by any other impairing national park values, and the Wilderness Reviews unit in the park system. It includes Park Service must strive to properly The DOI is embarking on wide-scale the largest concentration of glaciers, manage ATV use (see Figure 3). the largest subpolar ice cap, and 9 of planning efforts for refuges, parks, and the 16 highest mountains in the RS2477 Highway Bureau of Land Management (BLM) United States. Right-of-Way Claims lands in Alaska. Six Refuge Comprehen- Although the park is massive, much In 1866, a statute was passed in part to sive Conservation Plans are currently of it is rock and ice, making the allow highway construction for the being revised, and DOI intends to revise biologically rich lower elevations benefit of commerce to move from all 16 Refuge Plans by the year 2010. critical habitat for Dall sheep, brown settlement to settlement across federal The refuge system in Alaska includes and black bears, moose, mountain lands. It stated, “The right-of-way for more than 70 million acres (28.3 mil- goats, caribou, bison, wolves, and the construction of highways over pub- lion ha) of public land with outstanding nesting trumpeter swans, among other lic lands, not reserved for public uses, wilderness values. Moreover, a series of wildlife species. It is these lower is hereby granted.” In 1976, the Fed- backcountry planning efforts for the elevations that receive ATV use. In eral Land Policy and Management Act Park Service and BLM lands are under- 1998, the National Park System (NPS) repealed this obsolete statute, although way. DOI has directed that wilderness estimated that nearly 600 miles (968 it did not invalidate claims that could reviews will not be considered in most kilometers) of ATV routes affected be proven established prior to 1976. of these planning efforts, and manage- approximately 2 million acres (0.8 Recently, the Department of the In- ment decisions are being made that may million ha) of Wrangell-St. Elias Park terior (DOI) has eased the approval preclude future wilderness designations. and Preserve. process for RS2477 claims by issuing By refusing to complete wilderness To protect national parks, Congress new “disclaimer regulations,” and has reviews across these vast areas of public has consistently reaffirmed the core stated that this process can be used by lands, DOI has launched a silent assault mission contained in the National Park states, counties, and individuals to ob- on wilderness lands. Service Organic Act that activities tain rights-of-way under the repealed RS2477 law. The state of Alaska has a Conclusion blueprint to develop a web of hundreds Although Alaska is a land with extraor- of highways, roads, and even railroads dinary and vast wilderness values, it across thousands of miles of Alaska’s is experiencing widespread and mul- national parks, refuges, forests, and tifaceted threats to its wilderness other protected lands. Granting these resources. Oil and gas leasing, logging, claims would open federal and other motorized uses, RS2477 highway public lands to extensive damage rights-of-way, and planning without caused by off-road vehicles and other wilderness reviews comprise five of the Figure 3—ATV damage on the north side of the development, and it would effectively most significant threats to Alaska’s Nabesna road, Wrangell-St. Elias Park and Preserve. disqualify these special places for wil- Photo by National Park Service. derness protection. These RS2477 Continued on page 8

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 17 STEWARDSHIP

Subsistence, Inholdings, and ANILCA

The Complexity of Wilderness Stewardship in Alaska

BY RANDY J. TANNER

Introduction to fewer disputes and conflicts concerning some of our For many, Alaska exemplifies the nation’s most precious wilderness. characteristics that make wilder- ness one of the United States’ The origins of the Alaska most valued natural resources. National Interest Lands Conservation Act Not only does Alaska contain When the Alaska Statehood Act (Public Law 85-508) passed some of the country’s most pris- in 1958, the state of Alaska was permitted to select for with- tine wilderness, it also contains drawal 104 million acres (42.1 million ha) of public domain. more of the National Wilderness Alaska proclaimed that “all right and title to any lands or Preservation System than the other property not granted or confirmed to the State … Article author Randy J. Tanner. Lower 48 combined (Landres may be held by any … Natives, or held by the U.S. in trust and Meyer 2000). for said Natives” (Public Law 85-508). Not all of the unique wilderness qualities of Alaska are Contention arose when the state began to make selec- desirable. Perhaps one negative aspect is the legal ambigu- tions that intruded on Native settlements and hunting ity and controversy associated with the Alaska National grounds. This encroachment, in turn, spawned several law- Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) (Pub- suits by Natives. As a result, Congress sought to resolve the lic Law 96-487). Two intertwined issues at the heart of legal issue through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act controversies and ambiguities are subsistence and access (ANCSA) of 1971 (Public Law 92-203), which disposed of to Native (a citizen of the United States and a minimum 44 million acres (17.8 million ha) and dispensed nearly $1 one-fourth degree Alaska Indian, Inuit, Aleut, or combina- billion to Natives. In addition to this disbursement, Natives tion thereof) allotments and other wilderness inholdings were also entitled to a perpetual 2% royalty on mineral leases (see Figure 1). The fact that more than 800,000 acres (323,886 ha) of inholdings are within Alaska’s wilderness provides managers with an extremely challenging task: pre- serving wilderness while recognizing the importance of these inholdings for the subsistence lifestyles of many Na- tive Alaskans (National Park Service [NPS] 1999). Given the large number and size of inholdings within Alaska’s Wilderness, access for subsistence purposes will inevitably be a contentious issue. Nevertheless, through informed dis- cussion of the legal ambiguities surrounding access and Figure 1—The community of Anaktuvuk is within the boundaries of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Photo courtesy of NPS. subsistence, a better understanding of the issues could lead

18 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 owned by the federal government at sumption as food, shelter, fuel, modes and routes of access to wilder- the time of statehood (Zaslowsky and clothing, tools, or transporta- ness inholdings and Native allotments tion; for the making and sell- Watkins 1994). However, ANCSA was when the purpose of that access is to ing of handicraft articles out of conditional—Native Alaskans had to non-edible byproducts of fish engage in subsistence activities. agree to absolve all land claim suits and wildlife resources taken for against the state and agree not to file personal or family consump- Wilderness Inholding any more. tion; and for customary trade. Access Provisions of Not only did ANCSA provide a (§ 803 Public Law 96-487) mechanism for granting Native allot- Considering the above purposes, con- ANILCA ments, it also contained a particularly flicting views about the relationship There are two primary sections of important provision—§17(d)(2)— between wilderness preservation and ANILCA related to inholding access: which allowed for the future subsistence are inevitable. For ex- §1110 and §1323 (see Table 1). Sub- establishment of up to 80 million acres ample, unlike designated wilderness section 1110(b) states that (32.4 million ha) of National Interest in the Lower 48, snowmobile use, in any case in which State owned or privately owned Lands. These lands would eventually motorboats, and airplanes are allowed land … is effectively sur- contain national forests, national in Alaskan wilderness for subsistence, rounded by one or more con- parks, wildlife refuges, and designated traditional activities, and travel to and servation system units … such wilderness. The implementation of from villages and homesites (§811[a] rights shall be given by the this provision was ANILCA. and §1110 Public Law 96-487). Secretary … to assure adequate Passed in 1980, ANILCA is a signifi- The phrase “traditional uses,” found and feasible access for eco- nomic and other purposes … cant piece of wilderness legislation. After within ANILCA’s definition of subsis- subject to the reasonable regu- a decade of legislative debate, more than tence, has incited a conflict reflected lations issued by the Secretary 104 million acres (42.1 million ha) of in a U.S. Senate report addressing to protect the natural and federal lands in Alaska were preserved ANILCA. The report states that restric- other values of such lands. as national parks, wildlife refuges, and tion of subsistence to customary and Should an inholder desire access, conservation areas, with 56.5 million traditional uses shall “in no way im- ANILCA stipulates that it must be acres (22.9 million ha) designated as pede the use of new technology for granted. Although this is generally wilderness. At 449 pages, ANILCA is as subsistence purposes” (Senate Report accepted as factual, the type of access complicated as it is long. Unfortunately, 96-413). This controversy has height- to be granted to the inholder is cer- ANILCA has engendered a great deal of ened with rapid changes in technology. tainly not guaranteed. To illustrate, controversy involving subsistence rights For example, it is not clear whether suppose an inholder requests ATV ac- and access to wilderness inholdings, and or not all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are cess to an inholding within a much of this controversy can be attrib- permitted under ANILCA for subsis- designated wilderness in Alaska. Three uted to ambiguous language found tence purposes. The legislative history issues should be considered when de- within the act. suggests that the only special modes ciding whether or not this mode of of transportation permitted within wil- access should be granted: Subsistence and ANILCA derness designated under ANILCA are 1. “Adequate” access: Could the route airplanes, snowmobiles, motorboats, be reasonably traversed by foot, One clear purpose of ANILCA is to and dogsleds (Senate Report 96-413). dog sled, snowmobile, or airplane? “preserve Wilderness resource values” Rather than new, technologically ad- If so, then either of these modes (§101[a] Public Law 96-487); however, vanced modes of transportation being are “adequate” and ATV access may another is “to provide the opportunity permitted, Senate Report 96-413 sug- not be appropriate (§ 1110(a) Pub- for rural residents engaged in a subsis- gests that as the technology of the lic Law 96-487). tence way of life to continue to do so” allowed special modes of transporta- 2. “Feasible” access: Common law (§101[c[ Public Law 96-487). Subsis- tion advances, access via these modes doctrine has shown that potential tence is defined in ANILCA as will still be permitted. In either case, actions are considered “feasible” if the customary and traditional uses by rural Alaska residents the mode of transportation permitted those actions are possible and of wild renewable resources for for subsistence purposes is a signifi- consistent with the purposes of the direct personal or family con- cant factor in determining acceptable Act (Friends of the Boundary Waters

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 19 Wilderness v. F. Dale Robertson 1992). believe that the access route which degree of uncertainty, §1323 is perhaps 3. “Economical” access: Although the is chosen must be, in all instances, the most infamous section concerning phrase “economic purposes” in the most economically feasible al- wilderness inholdings in Alaska, and §1110(b) has traditionally been in- ternative.” For instance, can the arguably nationwide. Section 1323 is terpreted as applying to the purpose owner afford to charter a flight to divided into two subsections: (a) ad- of the access, the legislative history the inholding? If so, access via air- dresses inholdings found within suggests that economic aspects of plane may be a possibility. national forests, whereas subsection (b) the mode and route of access should addresses inholdings surrounded by also be considered. Senate Report Although the ambiguity of §1110 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 96-413 asserts that “we do not has certainly imbued ANILCA with a administered lands (see Table 1). Section (a) directs the secretary of agriculture to provide adequate access Table 1—Legislative Statutes about Landowner Inholdings in to inholdings located within the na- Wilderness as Stated within ANILCA. tional forest system that will secure to ANILCA Section Statute the owner reasonable use and enjoy- ment of the inholding. In 1981, the “Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act or other Ninth Circuit Court for the U.S. Court law, in any case in which State owned or privately owned of Appeals interpreted §1323(a) to land … is effectively surrounded by one or more apply to the entire nationwide national conservation system units, … the State or private owner forest system. This section has been §1110(b) shall be given by the Secretary such rights as may be the only section of ANILCA inter- necessary to assure adequate and feasible access for preted as having nationwide scope. economic and other purposes … subject to the to Following the Ninth Circuit opinion, reasonable regulations issued by the Secretary to protect the U.S. Forest Service adopted the natural and other values of such lands” §1323(a) as its policy governing ac- cess to wilderness inholdings “(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act or other law, the Secretary shall authorize and permit nationwide (USFS 1990). In imple- temporary access by the State or a private landowner to or menting this decision as policy, across any conservation system unit … though, there has been a failure to (b) In providing temporary access pursuant to subsection (a), acknowledge that ANILCA directs §1111 the Secretary may include such stipulations and conditions managers to implement a different he deems necessary to insure that the private use of public statute, namely ANILCA’s §1110(b), lands is accomplished in a manner that is not inconsistent when addressing wilderness with the purposes for which the public lands are reserved inholdings in Alaska. Essentially, the and which insures that no permanent harm will result to the legislative history of §1323(a) suggests resources of the unit” that the subsection is intended to apply to Alaska national forest lands “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, … the Secretary as a whole, but when such a national [of Agriculture] shall provide such access to nonfederally forest happens to also be a designated §1323(a) owned land within the boundaries of the National Forest System as the Secretary deems adequate to secure to the Wilderness, §1110(b) is to be applied. owner the reasonable use and enjoyment thereof.” There is a parallel controversy associ- ated with §1323(b) that directs the “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, … the secretary of the interior to provide ad- Secretary [of the Interior] shall provide such access to equate access to “public lands managed nonfederally owned land surrounded by public lands by the Secretary under the Federal Land §1323(b) managed by the Secretary under the Federal Land Policy Policy and Management Act of 1976” and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701-82) as the (FLPMA) (Public Law 94 -579) that will Secretary deems adequate to secure to the owner the secure to the owner the reasonable use reasonable use and enjoyment thereof.” and enjoyment of the inholding. The

20 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 FLPMA dealt exclusively with manage- ment direction for all BLM lands, and BLM has determined that §1323(b) of ANILCA has nationwide scope (see Inte- rior Board of Land Appeals 83-356, 1984). However, ANILCA clearly states that when the phrase “public lands” is used within ANILCA, it is defined as pub- lic lands in Alaska and suggests that §1323(b) should only be applied to inholdings within BLM-administered lands in Alaska (§102[3] PL 96-487). There are currently no BLM-administered Wildernesses within Alaska, however. Mitigating the competing demands of wilderness preservation, subsis- tence, and inholding access is among Figure 3—There are more than 800,000 acres of inholdings within Alaska’s designated Wilderness lands. Photo the most fundamental challenges to courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. wilderness stewardship in Alaska. A case study is presented here for Gates derness and each approximately 11 to goods back across the wilderness. The of the Arctic Wilderness. 14 miles long (NPS 2002). NPS has interpreted the Anaktuvuk The concerns of wilderness advo- Land Exchange of 1996 (Public Law cates centered on the likelihood of a 104-333) to imply that ATVs cannot Gates of the Arctic permanent scar across the wilderness be used for subsistence purposes within Wilderness: A Case Study and damage to wilderness character the vast portion of wilderness where the In July 2002, the NPS issued an Envi- that would be incurred in an other- access was requested (NPS 2002). Since ronmental Assessment (EA) (required wise trail-less wilderness. This concern transporting the harvested and col- by the National Environmental Policy was strengthened by a study con- lected goods back to the residence in Act for any significant action that pos- ducted in Gates of the Arctic National Anaktuvuk Pass is part of subsistence, sibly affects the integrity of the Park that concluded, transporting goods across Wilderness resource) that brought to the forefront Passage of but one ATV via ATV may not be legally permissible. the intertwined nature of the contro- through some landscapes can The organization Wilderness Watch versies surrounding subsistence and leave an indelible imprint. … alerted other conservation groups to the Continued use of ATVs over access to wilderness inholdings in the same path will result in access proposal, and, as a result, the NPS Alaska. The EA was in response to an disturbance that is irreversible received several comments concerning application for temporary summer in terms of the human life the potentially damaging impacts to wil- access, via an eight-wheeled amphibi- span. Recovery in some cases derness. Besides comments about the ous ATV, to a Native allotment located will be impossible to achieve physical scarring of the wilderness, sev- approximately 10 miles within Gates and only a functional recov- eral challenges were raised regarding the ery can be expected for much of the Arctic Wilderness. The allot- of the remaining trail network lack of alternatives considered and the ment has been historically accessed by within the park and preserve legal provisions for ATV access. airplane and snowmobile. The appli- if the trails are abandoned.” The NPS posited that access to the cant requested ATV access for the (Alstrand 1988) inholding was subject to §1110(b) of purposes of repairing a tent, remov- ANILCA. Whereas in most cases ac- ing trash, and subsistence. Three Accessing the inholding by airplane, cess to NPS administered wilderness alternatives were considered: a no-ac- snowmobile, or dogsled may be the inholdings is governed by §1110(b), tion alternative and two alternatives only legal way the inholder can carry in this instance the access requested that would permit ATV access, each out subsistence activities and then was temporary and could be inter- along a different route through the wil- transport the harvested or collected preted as being subject to §1111 of

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 21 ANILCA, which speaks directly to statutory obligations of preservation Zaslowsky, D. and T. H. Watkins. 1994. These temporary access to wilderness with the demands of those who depend American Lands: Parks, Wilderness and the Public Lands. Washington, DC: Island Press. inholdings. This clarification is essen- upon the landscape and its resources tial since §1111 is more conservative for their livelihood. Managing both pro- RANDY TANNER is Wilderness Policy with the nature of permitted modes tection and use will require shared Analyst for Wilderness Watch, a national and routes of access. For example, learning and understanding among conservation organization dedicated to the wise stewardship of the U.S. designated §1111 states that the secretary may managers, surrounding communities, Wilderness Areas, and a graduate student include stipulations to the temporary and wilderness advocates, as well as a in the Department of Conservation and access such that the access is “accom- thorough understanding of the intent Society in the College of Forestry and plished in a manner that is not of relevant laws. In the end, what is Conservation at the University of Montana, inconsistent with the purposes for desired most is a harmonious coexist- Missoula. E-mail: [email protected]. which the public lands are reserved ence of wilderness and cultural lifestyles and which insures that no permanent found within Alaska. harm will result to the resources of the From LEOPOLD CENTER page 34 REFERENCES unit.” Subsection 1110(b), on the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Users of the WSRS need to be aware other hand, makes no explicit men- Act. 1980. P.L. 96–487. of what it does not provide. First, the tion of protecting wilderness from Alstrand, G. M. 1988. Effects of All-Terrain Ve- WSRS does not provide full text docu- permanent harm and not permitting hicle Use in the Vicinity of Anaktuvuk Pass, Gates of the Arctic National Park. National ments. For example, it contains access that is inconsistent with the Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. excerpts from House Reports that are purposes of wilderness. The only pro- Federal Land Policy and Management Act. relevant to the issues, but it does not tective language found within 1976. P.L. 94–579. contain the full text of these House §1110(b) is that reasonable regulations Friends of the Boundary Waters v. F. Dale Robertson, Chief of the United States Forest Reports. Second, it does not cover must be applied to protect the natural Service. 1992. Eighth Circuit Court. Case nonwilderness legislation such as the and other values of such lands. No. 91-3032, Interior Board of Land Ap- Endangered Species Act or the Mul- In the end, the NPS did not imple- peals. 1984. Number 83-356. Kunz, M., and K. Troxel. 1988. The Anaktuvuk tiple Use Sustained Yield Act, although ment any of these provisions. At Pass All-Terrain Vehicle Study 1986–1988: these laws may affect wilderness stew- present, other solutions, such as land A Narrative Report of the Field Operations ardship. Third, much of the exchange, are being explored in lieu and Dispersed ATV Use. Alaska Regional information on the WSRS, and legis- of granting access. Nevertheless, not Office, National Park Service, U.S. Depart- ment of Interior. lative history information in particular, all access requests will or should nec- Landres, P., and S. Meyer. 2000. National Wil- is subject to interpretation. Most im- essarily result in such solutions. derness Preservation System Database: Key portantly, the 1964 Wilderness Act Wilderness managers, advocates, and Attributes and Trends, 1964–1999. USDA frames all uses of the WSRS, and this those living in and around wilderness Forest Service Gen. Tech. Report RMRS-GTR- 18-Rev. Ed. Ogden, UT: Rocky Mountain website should not be used as a sub- must come to terms with the undeni- Research Station. stitute for seeking legal counsel. able truth that humans are a part of Montana Wilderness Association v. United States The WSRS also has links to the the wilderness landscape in Alaska. Forest Service, No. 80-3374, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 655 F.2d Wilderness.net Law Library that contains Determining the appropriate context 951. February 9, 1981, argued; August 19, all U.S. wilderness laws in a within which this relationship exists, 1981, decided. downloadable format, and to the Policies however, remains to be determined. National Park Service. 1999. Inholding data re- quested through the Freedom of Information Act. and Regulations page that contains links Conclusions National Park Service. 2002. Environmental to the full text documents of all U.S. fed- Assessment: All-Terrain Vehicle Access to an eral agency wilderness regulations and Clearly, there is no easy and straight- Inholding at Agiak Lake within Gates of the policies. Pending funding and support, forward answer to inholding access Arctic National Park Wilderness. Gates of and feedback on its functionality, the requests that are linked to subsistence the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Tanner, R. 2002. Inholdings within Wilderness: WSRS will be updated annually. activities (see Figure 3). In Alaska, wil- Legal Foundations, Problems, and Solutions. derness and the cultural landscape are IJW 8 (3): 9–14. PETER LANDRES is a research ecologist at inseparable. Given this close linkage, U.S. Forest Service. 1990. Forest Service Manual: Title 2300—Recreation, Wilderness, and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research managers have been charged with the Related Resources, Section 2326.13. Wash- Institute, P.O. Box 8089, Missoula, MT extremely challenging task of weighing ington, DC: U.S. Forest Service. 59807, USA. E-mail: [email protected].

22 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 STEWARDSHIP

Zoos Behind the Wild Facade

BY JON KOHL

he histories of zoos and wilderness in America have to 10% of the total human been intertwined for 150 years. According to the population (World Zoo TWorld Zoo Conservation Strategy (WZCS) (World Organization 1993). Zoo Organization 1993), their evolution is unfolding in No other type of con- three stages. Menageries marked the 19th century, when servation organization simple taxonomic animal collections were exhibited to the comes close to reaching so public. In the 20th century, zoos became zoological parks, many people. With con- where single-species cages give way to multispecies diora- servation issues evermore mas that look something like the natural homes of their pressing, zoos find them- animals. Last, the WZCS hopes that zoos continue to the selves not only trying to final stage, where 21st-century conservation centers focus save wildlife, but also try- on the whole natural system, including interactions between ing to save their own kind soil, water, plants, animals, and people. from becoming lost in Article author Jon Kohl in a cave in Costa Rica. Photo This evolution has been driven by environmental, wilder- irrelevance. by Marisol Mayorga. ness, and social movements that increasingly feed the public’s demand that zoos justify themselves. For many people, keep- Zoos’ Wilderness Roots ing animals like proboscis monkeys captive no longer suffices In order to better design an exhibit mimicking natural habitat, as adequate justification for zoo existence. a team of biologists and designers from Woodland Park Roderick Nash notes in his classic book Wilderness and Zoo in Seattle, Washington, traveled in 1985 to Tanzania the American Mind, “Clearly it is not wilderness but people to discover what savannah habitat really looked like. Jon who need management” (Nash 1982, p. 320). Contemporary Charles Coe, a landscape architect specializing in zoo conservation thinking extols the necessity of understand- design, however, did not see the terrain as the others did. ing human activity at least as much as animal activity. Zoos While the biologists catalogued the biophysical character focus almost exclusively on wildlife, despite humanity’s of the African savannah, Coe began analyzing aspects of wil- central role in habitat destruction and conservation. Zoos’ derness that he could re-create in an exhibit experience. “One systematic ignorance of the impact that human behavior aspect of wilderness in the zoo is to make people feel that has on environmental problems and solutions has blocked sense of anticipation and anxiety” (personal communication, their continued evolution. Coe 1997). Whereas many exhibit designers may go no fur- The blockage proves ironic, since zoos’ insistence on ther than using rocks and plants from the place they want to displays without people is squandering the immense re-create, Coe goes beyond. He designs unfamiliar space that potential to promote conservation. This potential of zoos, breaks down visitors’ sense of security and brushes them as well as of botanical gardens and aquariums, to be con- with a feeling of wilderness. By building landscapes where servation centers can be counted in the thousands of people encounter animals, separated by invisible barriers, institutions worldwide, the billions of dollars in investment, for a split second their survival instincts are turned on. They and the more than 115 million in visitors in the United forget they are in a zoo. According to Coe, that feeling of States and 600 million in the world every year—equivalent lacking control is one important aspect of wilderness.

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 23 forests and grasslands, but wild animals of refuge for the vanishing races of the like bison and wild places like the Great continent” (Lefkowitz 1996). Plains. After the Civil War, however, In the 1960s, many zoos had be- many Americans grew increasingly con- come run-down, and the public did not cerned about the vanishing character approve. Several bills floated in Con- of wild America. gress to ban zoos, although none Easterners and European immi- passed. Zoos came under heavy pres- grants left the vestiges of civilization sure to get their act in line. In general, behind as they marched onward into the zoo community reacted to public the wilderness. In the words of Will- outcries in two ways, according to iam Cronon, they “gained an energy, Vernon Kisling (personal communica- Figure 1—The Khao Kheow Open Zoo aviary mixes zoo with natural habitat. Photo by Marisol Mayorga. an independence, and a creativity that tion 1997), the American representative were the sources of American democ- of the Bartlett Society, an international racy and national character. Seen this association of zoo historians. First, the Coe’s search for this wilderness feel- way, wilderness became a place of re- national organization, the American ing in zoo design may sound novel, but ligious redemption and national Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA), the influence of wilderness on how zoos renewal, the quintessential location for developed professional standards and conceive themselves is hardly new. The experiencing what it meant to be an a code of ethics for individuals and ac- modern zoo, in fact, was born during American” (Cronon 1995, p. 42). “It creditation for zoos. Second, “they the first wilderness movement. The is no accident,” Cronon continues in began a major effort at lobbying and Philadelphia Zoological Garden, which a piece adapted from his 1995 book, became pretty good at it,” Kisling adds. opened in 1874, was the first animal Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing In the late 1960s, zoos started to collection to call itself a “zoological gar- Nature, “that the movement to set aside do what they wanted to do: get rid of den,” an attempt to differentiate itself national parks and wilderness areas barred cages. Several forces combined from earlier menageries. At that time gained real momentum just as laments to bring wilderness to zoo design. The American pioneers were finishing up about the vanishing frontier reached wilderness movement instilled design- their grand sweeping aside of not just their peak. To protect wilderness was ers with the values, the historical to protect the nation’s most sacred moment provided them with the op- myth of origin” (p. 42). portunity, and animal husbandry In 1872, protected areas like science (vaccinations, for example) Yellowstone National Park were set allowed them to escape enclosures of aside. Inside the cities, people were al- bathroom tiles and operating room ready building another institution that decor necessary for preventing infec- would preserve the concept of wilder- tions—designers could now build ness. By 1891, when the National naturalistic exhibits with plants, rocks, Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., streams, and other animals. opened, many zoos had already been Coe, an active outdoorsperson, was established. In 1889, Congress passed only one of several to launch the mod- a bill to establish a national zoological ern conception of immersion exhibits, garden as part of the Smithsonian In- in which visitors are immersed in the stitution “for the advancement of natural landscape alongside animals of science and the instruction and recre- the exhibited region. In the early 1970s ation of the people.” Indeed, science, at Woodland Park Zoo, Coe worked education, and recreation are three of with Grant Jones, Dennis Paulson, and the four principal missions of modern architect David Hancocks, who was the zoos. The fourth, conservation, soon zoo director. Hancocks wanted to cre- Figure 2—The Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand breeds clouded followed when Smithsonian secretary ate a new kind of zoo, one with exhibits leopards for increasing the genetic stock of zoo-based clouded S. P. Langley championed the idea of based on bioclimatic zones, ecological leopards. Photo by Karen Povey. the National Zoo as “a home and a city habitats, and animal social behavior.

24 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 Together, they created the gorilla ex- nological capacity for breeding has only hibit that is still considered one of the been increasing. Zoos do not just hire best immersion exhibits ever built. veterinarians anymore—now the mod- But even as designers like Coe, ern zoo staff includes specialists in Jones, and others strive to include ev- animal reproductive physiology, genet- ery detail necessary—each rock and ics, molecular and small population leaf—to convince the visitor that, just biology, endocrinology, animal behavior, for a second, he or she was in the heart nutrition, and animal infectious diseases of Africa. The myth of wild or wilder- (Eisner 1991). And their technology is ness may impede the path of zoos impressive: in vitro fertilization, cryo- trying to become conservation centers. genic preservation, implantation surgery, and video microscopy (Stevens 1993). Erecting the Wild Facade Zoos promote these high-tech im- Flashing the big-eyed fuzzy face of a ages in their research mission as well, baby cheetah or gorilla, zoos fre- despite captive breeding’s many prob- Figure 3—The Tiger Farm in Thailand claims that quently promote themselves as saviors lems. It is, for example, very nursing newborn tigers on pigs rather than real tigers avoids their acquiring wild habits of the mother. of wilderness and of animal species. expensive; it can draw funds away Photo by Marisol Mayorga. The wild myth gives zoos a frame in from cheaper and more effective wil- which they can romanticize their mis- derness conservation projects; it sions as ones that do not require generates surplus animals that must is that link. The most famous example human considerations. Even while be disposed of; it presupposes that of fund-raising in the name of educa- other sectors of the conservation com- reintroduction is the solution to en- tion is the panda renting of the late munity, such as the World Wildlife dangerment when reintroduction 1980s and early 1990s, when zoos Fund and World Conservation Union, cannot address habitat loss, a prime competed for pandas from China. It have long since devised strategies at- cause of endangerment; it is biased was estimated that Toledo earned tending to human social problems that toward large, charismatic mammals about $60 million through tourism endanger wildlife, zoos lag far behind. cherished by marketing and public from a panda rented to the Toledo Zoo Hancocks (personal communication relations departments; it draws atten- in 1988 (Cohn 1992). In 1990, a con- 1997), former director of the Arizona- tion away from the social and policy sortium of organizations, including the Sonora Desert Museum, asserts that side of conservation; and, most of all, AZA, the World Wildlife Fund, the certain tactics, such as the wild facade it can boast little success—only 13% World Conservation Union, and Inter- in Ndoki, belie the truth about the suc- of reintroductions have succeeded national Union of Directors of cess of zoo conservation. Promotion of (Beck 1995). Zoological Gardens voted for a world- conservation successes abroad reinforces Zoos often declare that the princi- wide moratorium on all panda loans. a facade that hides zoos’ true passion: pal means of effecting conservation of Educational strategies such as ex- conservation driven by science and tech- species and wilderness is through edu- hibit graphics have been criticized on nology. To become conservation centers, cation. Yet looking behind the wild numerous fronts. Kellert reviewed the zoos want to carry out conservation facade, one can see that education is literature, which has shown very lim- through technological approaches. In the highest priority only insofar as it ited results in the educational the 1980s, zoos conceded they should serves zoos’ interest in promoting sci- effectiveness of zoos (Kellert and not be the Ark (still a very popular meta- entific research. Here in the United Dunlap 1989). There is little evidence phor for captive breeding) that carries States, for example, zoos argue that that visitors’ attitudes become more captive species across a 50- or 100-year making Americans more knowledge- favorable toward nature and conser- span necessary for the subsidence of hu- able and conscious of biology and vation or that they have learned much man destruction, after which, the idea extinction will ultimately help to con- at all. Yet zoos claim that education goes, new habitat for reintroductions will serve places like Ndoki. When pushed will ultimately make citizens more be created or discovered. They now de- to explain a direct link between con- aware of environmental issues, result- clare that captive breeding was just one servation there and education here, ing in better conservation-related tool for conserving wilderness. Yet tech- money to fund international projects behaviors.

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 25 to the rich, urban, and sophisticated. 1996). People not only live in wilder- A society must become technological, ness, but shape it as well. urban, and crowded before a need for Becoming a conservation center wild nature makes economic and in- requires a redefinition of wilderness tellectual sense,” writes Nash (1983, to include local perspectives and tra- p. 343). Zoos are built in highly ditions. Gómez-Pompa and Kaus populated areas, far from rural real- (1992) note that most policy agendas ity. The wild myth has emerged in and education curricula of conserva- part to deal with the stresses and ar- tion organizations neglect rural tificiality of urban life. As Nash noted, perceptions of the environment and city folk derive satisfaction—intellec- traditional systems of resource man- tual, recreational, historical, and agement. spiritual—when they temporarily Many conservation organizations cross that divide into wilderness. have already decided that lasting con- Despite the myth’s perseverance in servation involves cooperation with cities, people have always lived in wil- local communities, who have the right Figure 4—The Tiger Farm in Thailand sponsors an derness. The Amazon rain forest, the and experience to live where they do. aggressive crocodile breeding project; here a newborn last great wilderness of tropical Once again zoos lag behind in not in- croc can be seen just cracking the egg. Photo by Marisol Mayorga. America, has been home to native tegrating these people’s perspectives. groups for thousands of years, no mat- They also do not realize that much of ter how uninhabited the interior may what they advocate, in fact, is to man- seem to outsiders. Their agroforestry age humans: posting guards, pursuing Taking Down manipulations partially account for the poachers, and setting up national the Wild Facade existence of some communities of trees parks. If zoos would only peek around Many have argued that by exerting do- botanists today regard as virgin wilder- the wild facade, they may find the path minion over nature, humanity has ness. Many cultures also use to becoming conservation centers. attempted to separate itself from the technologies that do not destroy nature, natural context. This fundamental be- and some have even been credited for Evolving into lief of separation underlies the wild increasing biological diversity through myth. “Nature appreciation is a ‘full their agricultural and forest manage- Conservation Centers stomach’ phenomenon, that is confined ment practices (Fairhead and Leach What would a conservation center look like? First the reader must throw out contemporary perceptions of a zoo. A few conservation centers have gone into the wilderness to work with people. The zoo in Chiapas, Mexico manages several large wilderness ar- eas. All have people in them. Instead of pretending they do not exist, the zoo has engaged in teacher training, literacy programs, agricultural im- provement programs, alternatives to hunting wild game, and integrating best practices of local communities into forest protection strategies. Each example represents a human manage- ment tactic for conservation. The Chiapas zoo recognizes that its audi- Figure 5—Boy feeding giraffes at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand. Photo by Marisol Mayorga. ence is not just those who visit the zoo,

26 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 but all those who will never visit a tra- ditional zoo (Kaufman 1990). The histories of zoos and wilderness in America Zoos that work with people under- stand the need for specialists in other have been intertwined for 150 years. fields. The Roger Williams Park Zoo, Providence, RI, is going through this transition now. Anne Savage is direc- hibit, the scene changes to a logging P. Chapman and Thackwray S. Driver, eds. camp with small buildings and el- Time-scales of Environmental Changes (169– tor of research and a biologist. Yet 195). London, UK: Routledge. when she finds herself managing the ephants to drag logs through the Gómez-Pompa, Arturo, and Andrea Kaus. zoo’s cotton-top tamarin project in forest. The exhibit portrays the el- 1992. Taming the wilderness myth. Bio- Colombia, she clips on her social sci- ephant in its various roles as wild science, 42(4): 271–279. creature, cultural part of the landscape, Hancocks, David. 1997. Personal communica- ences badge. She worked to reduce tion. Director, Arizona-Sonora Desert firewood consumption by promoting and deity, all intertwined in this story. Museum, Tucson, AZ. a better clay stove called a binde (per- Above all, conservation centers can- Kaufman, Wallace. 1990. The zoo in the forest. sonal communication, Savage 1997). not be managed only by biologists and Orion (Autumn) p 26–35. Kellert, Stephen, and Julie Dunlap. 1989. Savage presages a time when conser- businesspeople. Conservation centers Informal Learning at the Zoo: A Study of vation centers will hire anthropologists must diversify their income, collabo- Attitude and Knowledge Impacts. Philadel- who study traditional conservation rate with other kinds of institutions, phia, PA: Zoological Society of Philadelphia. and refocus on conservation, rather Kisling, Vernon. 1997. Personal communication. systems among forest-based people, Zoo historian, University of Florida, sociologists interested in group func- than animal exhibition. Although they Gainesville. tion, psychologists in education, and will certainly remain involved in cap- Lefkowitz, Helen Horowitz. 1996. The National economists to discuss economic alter- tive breeding and exhibition, the Zoological Park: City of refuge. In Robert J. public may come to regard them as Hoage and William A. Deiss, eds. New natives to deforestation. Worlds, New Animals: From Menagerie to The WZCS clearly states that edu- serious interdisciplinary institutions Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century cation is conservation centers’ working with people for conservation (126–135). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins principal tool for conservation. Instead and wilderness. University Press. Nash, Roderick. 1982. Wilderness and the of talking about setting up national American Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale Uni- parks, conservation centers could be REFERENCES versity Press. Beck, Benjamin. 1995. Reintroduction, zoos, educators in the variety of cutting-edge Savage, Anne. 1997. Personal communication. conservation, and animal welfare. In Bryan Director of Research, Roger Williams Park conservation techniques. They include G. Norton, Michael Hutchins, Elizabeth F. Zoo, Providence, RI. joint forest implementation plans, Stevens, and Terry L. Maple, eds. Ethics on Stevens, William K. 1993. Zoos find a new role community-based conservation, high the Ark (155–163). Washington, DC: in conserving species: Expertise is combined Smithsonian Institution Press. diversity agroforestry systems, and with high technology. New York Times, 21 Coe, Jon Charles. 1997. Personal communi- September, sect. C4. extractive reserves. They would also cation. Coe Lee Robinson Roesch, Philadel- World Zoo Organization and the Captive Breed- be involved in strategies such as con- phia, PA. ing Specialist Group. 1993. The World Zoo servation easements, land trusts, and Cohn, Jeffrey. 1992. Decisions at the Zoo: Eth- Conservation Strategy: The Role of the Zoos ics, politics, profit, and animal-rights con- ecotourism. and Aquaria of the World in Global Con- cerns affect the process of balancing servation. Chicago: Chicago Zoological Conservation centers could design conservation goals and the public interests. Society. exhibits to include people. Jon Coe’s Bioscience, 42(9): 654–659. Cronon, William. 1995. The trouble with JON KOHL wrote a research paper on this colleague, Grant Jones, has designed wilderness. The New York Times, 13 August, an exhibit that includes a rich under- sect. 6, p. 42. topic in 1997 and won the Gloria Barron standing of the interplay between Eisner, Robin. 1991. Scientists roam the habitat Wilderness Essay Contest sponsored by The Wilderness Society and Yale School of forest peoples, wildlife, and wilder- as zoos alter their mission: With species preservation now becoming at least as Forestry and Environmental Studies. Jon’s ness. At Woodland Park Zoo, his firm important as entertainment, researchers in writings focus on conservation, designed an exhibit that simulates a many fields take up zoo residence. The sustainability, and other environmental partly deciduous tropical forest. The Scientist, 5 (11): 1–3. issues (www.jonkohl.com). E-mail: visitor starts in the highlands of Thai- Fairhead, James, and Melissa Leach. 1996. [email protected]. Reframing Forest History: A radical reap- land where they encounter elephants praisal of the roles of people and climate in in the wilderness. But later in the ex- west African vegetation change. In Graham

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 27 SCIENCE and RESEARCH

The Relationship between Qikiktagrugmiut (Kotzebue Tribal Members) and the Western Arctic Parklands, Alaska, United States

BY ALEX WHITING

Introduction The Qikiktagrugmiut were and are one of these nations Stadel, Taniton, and Heder (see Figure 1). The area they call home is from central (2002) suggest that educating Kotzebue Sound north and now includes portions of the the public about the diversity Noatak National Preserve/Wilderness, and the Cape of values associated with wilder- Krusenstern National Monument. Unlike most Native ness is critical for reaching an Americans, the Qikiktagrugmiut’s relationship with the land understanding of how wilder- and associated cultural activities have remained essentially ness areas are defined, used, and the same, and the Qikiktagrugmiut continue to utilize their managed in the future. Studies homeland to meet many of their basic needs. of attitudes, opinions, and val- In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conserva- ues of visitors to wilderness and tion Act (ANILCA) was enacted as part of the national park areas, however, implementation of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act have typically focused on (ANCSA). The purpose of section d (2) of ANCSA was to Article author Alex Whiting. Photo by Siikauraq people visiting these areas for set aside large areas in Alaska to be federally protected from Whiting. recreation, the embodiment of development and other deleterious impacts. In northwest- the definition included in the ern Alaska, four National Park Service (NPS)–managed U.S. Wilderness Act is humans as visitors who do not remain. National Conservation Units were created. They include One group missing from this research are those people for the Noatak National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National whom wilderness areas are homelands, which they rely on for Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park, and the Bering their nutritional, spiritual, and cultural needs (Watson, Alessa, Land Bridge National Preserve (see Figure 2). These are and Glaspell 2003). While there are non-Natives in this cat- collectively managed as the Western Arctic National egory, Native peoples with cultural ties going back generations Parklands (WEAR) by the NPS offices located in Kotzebue, are the focus of this investigation. Nome, and Fairbanks. Of these units, two have official wil- At European contact, northwestern Alaska was composed derness classifications, the Noatak Wilderness and the of several Inupiaq national homelands (Burch, Jr. 2003). Kobuk Valley Wilderness areas.

(PEER REVIEWED)

28 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 Although the designations are the same as “traditional” parks (e.g., Park, monument, preserve), people living in or near WEAR are allowed to use the land in a manner representative of historical practices, a variance from traditional park policy. In order to better articulate the values and threats their members associate with WEAR, the Native village of Kotzebue de- cided to explore the issue with tribal members.

Methods Thirty users of the park units in the 30- something age bracket, out of 77 households that fall into a heavy har- Figure 1—Illustration of Qikiktagrugmiut homelands in the western Arctic. Courtesy of Chris Young, archaeologist, WEAR. vest category from the tribes’ harvest-monitoring program, were in- terviewed. This group will be using the Uses and Values monly articulated within the purpose parklands for the next few decades and Associated with the Land of federally protected wilderness: their children are likely to comprise the When asked how they use the land, re- • Identity (personal and commu- most active future user group. Although sponses included hunting, trapping, nity): “[The country] defines who arguably they have the most to lose, this fishing, gathering firewood, and travel- I am and who we are as a people, group has had very little participation ing. Some responses were more very important to me.” in park public meetings. In addition, philosophical, focusing on relaxation, •Traditional way of life: “[This is] a most were too young during the pas- enjoyment, survival, and “my way of life.” way of life—just the way I was sage of ANILCA to have played an When asked what the land means brought up to live off the country.” active role in shaping that legislation. to them, respondents provided answers • Survival of individuals and fami- All participants, except one, were male. that identify a range of values not com- lies: “Being able to get out there Open-ended interviews were con- ducted using a predetermined set of questions about values, park manage- ment, and threats associated with WEAR. The author, a tribal employee, conducted all 30 interviews during Sep- tember 2003.

Results The average number of years’ experi- ence on the land during the participants’ lifetimes was 36. The av- erage maximum time spent out on the land during any single year was 9.3 months, with a few having spent their entire lives living out on the land. From September 2002 to September 2003, the average time spent on the Figure 2—Illustration of the location of Western Arctic Parklands. Courtesy of Chris Young, archaeologist, WEAR. land was 4.7 months.

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 29 competition with NPS for land inholdings, passage of time, globaliza- tion, development pressure, trash, lack of respect by outsiders, lack of teach- ing land ethics to the young people, the NPS camping nearby when Native people are on the land, airplanes, sport hunting (i.e., for trophies), and the in- creasing number of visitors. When probed about land use regu- lations, half were aware of many of the regulations, while the rest had no knowl- edge of any regulations. The majority of respondents cited “restrictions in gen- Figure 3—Self-sufficiency is one value Qikiktagrugmiut realize from obtaining food in the Western Arctic wilderness. Photo eral” on hunting as a widespread by Siikauraq Whiting. concern, including the need for licens- ing, enforcement of “unnecessary” rules, and show my kids how they can Unlike traditional park visitors, his ap- and fears of closing park areas to subsis- use the land to provide what they preciation includes not only the tence hunting. A few mentioned that need to survive.” grandeur of nature that nurtures the they would like to learn about regula- • Opportunities for personal growth: soul, but also the spiritual connection tions and that regulations were needed “[When in the country, I am] prac- to past generations for whom the land to keep out development and control ticing traditional arts.” provided the necessary nutritional and nonlocals in the parklands, but they • Expression of humility: “[Spend- cultural elements that continue to sus- should not unreasonably restrict local ing time in the country] reminds tain his family. One respondent, use. Respondents emphasized that me of how weak and small we are however, mentioned that using the land Qikiktagrugmiut have been brought up compared to the powers of the has become more recreational for him. to use common sense in taking care of land and ocean.” When asked what land attributes the land (see Figure 3). • Maintain mental and physical provide these values, half mentioned Most of the respondents reported that health: “[Being in the country] the presence of wild animals for food they do not recognize boundaries, treat- keeps my spirit alive like a vita- and fur and another half mentioned a ing the land as all green, brown, or white, min for my inner strength and clean, healthy country. Open space as the season dictates. Only one said he spirit.” and and no development also ranked high, thinks about boundaries, and that this • Expression of independence asso- and about half the respondents men- sometimes affects his actions. Another ciated with self-sufficiency: “[The tioned freedom to travel anywhere to respondent admitted that he is aware of country provides] my own source carry on traditional activities. Respon- the boundaries, but that this does not of food, camping, firewood, ice, dents emphasized the importance of influence his actions. During the discus- water—just living.” being left alone and the desire to leave sion of boundaries, many respondents the land the way it is. stated a belief that park managers view Most (23) of the respondents re- the country as place-names on a map or ported that their land relationship has Threats to Values GPS coordinates, removed from human remained largely the same over time. Attached to the Land activity and the intricate knowledge of One commented on how his relation- Participants were asked to identify the nuances of place. However, the re- ship with the land has become more threats to the values they had identi- spondents’ intergenerational and lifelong important to counter western influ- fied for these lands. They included familiarity with the land allows for the ences and keep the traditions of living agency restrictions and regulations, development of detailed mental maps off the land alive. Along these same the NPS not understanding the of the country, organized on the basis of lines, another said his relationship with Qikiktagrugmiut “way of life,” mod- a history of known places to camp, the land has become more spiritual. ern technology, global warming, travel, harvest plants, and find animals.

30 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 When questioned about the rela- tionship between themselves and Many Qikiktagrugmiut view as beneficial much of WEAR staff, the influences respondents reported included professional relation- what the managers do in conserving resources, ships, running into park rangers out in controlling non locals, and other management activities. the country, enforcement, and lack of trust. When asked about improving the relationship, slightly more than half people subject to regulation by a domi- Conclusions said it’s good the way it is. The remain- nant society. There are also historical It must be remembered that the NPS ing suggested more involvement of examples of regulators in northwest- management of traditional lands occurs Inupiaq people in management and ern Alaska acting in ways that are in the midst of a landslide of threats to policy roles, and relationship and trust interpreted by locals as being overly Alaska Natives and the future of their building with WEAR managers. Oth- oppressive, perpetuating opinions that cultures. These threats combine to exert ers focused on the need for rangers to enforcement efforts are unreasonable, incredible pressure and influence over the use more common sense and get away that there is an “occupying army,” or shape of Qikiktagrugmiut society. Unfor- from a by-the-book mentality. A few that the people are being babysat while tunately, the Qikiktagrugmiut have little would like to see increased enforce- on the land—all of which were men- control over many, and no control over ment, especially for outside hunters. tioned by one or more respondents. some, of the potentially most harmful, At least one mentioned the need for Currently, perceptions of agency per- such as global warming and contamina- stronger enforcement all around, in- sonnel carry the baggage of past tion of traditional foods. cluding for locals. injustices, real or perceived, perpetu- Many respondents reported a belief ated by representatives of their kind. that the long-term goal of the NPS is for Discussion Aldo Leopold explained this dy- them to relate to their homelands more Although wilderness protection pro- namic, in regard to plants, like this: as parklands, with a similar relationship vides some benefits to users, the threat It is evident that our plant bi- to that of any other American to national of an ongoing land use relationship ases are in part traditional. If parklands (i.e., as visitors who do not being destroyed through dependence your grandfather liked remain). This attitude does not mean that hickory nuts, you will like the on legislative, administrative, and le- hickory tree because your fa- all managers and politicians are unsym- gal decision making is a source of ther told you to. If on the pathetic toward the relationship of anxiety in the Alaska Native commu- other hand, your grandfather Inupiaq to the land (e.g., the Alaska con- nity. ANILCA could have addressed burned a log carrying a poi- gressional delegation has introduced this, in part, by developing new park son ivy vine and recklessly legislation over recent years to increase designations and management regimes stood in the smoke, you will the role of Alaska Natives in managing dislike the species no matter specifically for protecting traditional with what crimson glories it WEAR), or that the importance of WEAR relationships, with other park objec- warms your eyes each fall” to the Inupiaq of northwestern Alaska tives being equal or subordinate. This (Leopold 1949, p. 72). cannot play a more prominent role in approach was proposed for the This observation of human nature is developing long-term protection of that Nunamiut Wildlands in what is now relevant to the discussion in that many land relationship (see Figure 4). It does Gates of the Arctic National Park, but Qikiktagrugmiut view as beneficial mean, however, that the Qikiktagrugmiut was rejected (Norris 2002). Further- much of what the managers do in con- have lost substantial control over whether more, the predominantly nonlocal, serving resources, controlling nonlocals, that future relationship will resemble the and in many ways transient, nature of and other management activities. Yet one they have historically enjoyed and WEAR staff makes it difficult for them at the same time, the history of past continues to define who they are now. to build relationships needed to estab- conflicts feeds the flames of mistrust lish trust with local users. and animosity that still exist. Building Acknowledgments The mistrust and hostilities re- on the former while reducing the latter Thanks to the tribal members who vealed by many respondents in these is a major challenge for the relation- participated and the Aldo Leopold interviews can, in part, be explained ship between the region’s land by the natural reaction of a colonized managers and the Qikiktagrugmiut. Continued on page 8

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 31 SCIENCE and RESEARCH

Montane Lake Research Program

BY ROLAND A. KNAPP

Editor’s note: The Excellence in Wilderness Stewardship Research Award was given to Kathleen Matthews (U.S. Forest Service Research) and Roland Knapp (UCSB, Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory) by IJW and the U.S. Forest Service. This collabrative High Mountain Lake Project assessed the impacts of fish stocking, in part, by surveying over 2000 lakes in the John Muir Wilderness (where fish stocking continues) and the adjacent Kings Canyon National Park (where fish stocking was terminated). Dale N. Bosworth, Chief, USFS, said this on June 23, 2004 when presenting the award: “Since 1995, the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station Sierra Nevada Research Center has been involved in studying the effects of the widespread introduction of non-native trout on the native high elevation lake fauna in the Sierra Nevada. The results of the studies indicated a strong negative effect of introduced trout on the distribution and abundance of the mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa, and the Pacific tree frog, Hyla regilla, and these results are published in Conservation Biology, and International Journal of Wilderness, and Copeia.” Roland Knapp summarized some of this research over the last ten years at the request of IJW.

y research began on mountain lakes in 1995, in and the extent to which native species could recover following collaboration with Dr. Kathleen Matthews (U.S. fish removal. This project concluded in 1997 with the survey M Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station). of more than 1,700 water bodies. Papers published based on This research focused on historically fishless alpine lakes in this comparative study have provided compelling evidence the John Muir Wilderness and Kings Canyon National Park of that non-native trout dramatically alter the faunal composi- California’s Sierra Nevada, and was designed to describe the tion of alpine lakes. These impacts include the extirpation of distribution of non-native trout, their impacts on native am- amphibian populations and the elimination of large-bodied, phibians, reptiles, zooplankton, and benthic macroinvertebrates, conspicuous zooplankton and benthic macro-invertebrate species. In addition to these direct impacts caused by trout predation, indirect impacts of these changes in faunal compo- sition include the extirpation of garter snakes from the most heavily stocked lake basins following the elimination of their amphibian prey by trout. Despite the magnitude of trout-in- duced changes to faunal composition, comparisons of the fauna in lakes that were stocked in the past but had since reverted to a fishless condition, with lakes that were never stocked, indi- cated that the native fauna showed considerable ability to recover following trout disappearance. In 1996, I began a research project with Dr. Orlando Sarnelle (Michigan State University) that used a replicated whole lake experiment in the John Muir Wilderness to describe the re- covery of alpine lake ecosystem structure and function fol- Author and award winner Roland A. Knapp in the California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. lowing the removal of non-native trout. After two years of data

32 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 collection to describe invertebrate and vertebrate species composition, algal Papers published based on this comparative study biomass and production, and nutrient have provided compelling evidence that non-native dynamics in the seven trout-containing study lakes, trout populations were re- trout dramatically alter the faunal composition moved from four of the lakes in 1998 using gill nets. Data collected from 1998 of alpine lakes. through 2003 indicated that the moun- tain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) elevation lakes were more sensitive to mandates, and unintended consequences. trout impacts than were those at low Ecosystems, 4: 275–278. increased more than 100-fold in some Knapp, R. A., J. A. Garton, and O. Sarnelle. fish removal lakes and most benthic elevations. During this same period, we 2001. The use of egg shells to infer the his- macroinvertebrate and zooplankton spe- completed faunal surveys in all lakes torical presence of copepods in alpine lakes. cies, characteristic of never-stocked and ponds (3,500) in Sequoia-Kings Journal of Paleolimnology, 25: 539–543. Canyon National Park. Knapp, R. A., and K. R. Matthews. 1998. Eradi- lakes, reappeared in the fish removal cation of non-native fish by gill-netting from lakes within five years. However, R. My research team is now conduct- a small mountain lake in California. Resto- muscosa has been unable to recolonize ing resurveys of amphibian populations ration Ecology, 6: 207–213. those study lakes that are separated by in the John Muir Wilderness, Sequoia- Knapp, R. A., and K. R. Matthews. 2000. Non-na- tive fish introductions and the decline of the moun- several kilometers from frog source Kings Canyon National Park, and tain yellow-legged frog from within protected populations, and at least one species of Yosemite National Park to describe areas. Conservation Biology, 14: 428–438. zooplankton has failed to recover in any population trajectories and the role of Knapp, R. A., K. R. Matthews, and O. Sarnelle. disease in causing amphibian declines. 2001. Resistance and resilience of alpine of the study lakes following fish removal. lake fauna to fish introductions. Ecological Changes in ecosystem function follow- In addition, a recently completed Monographs, 71: 401–421. ing trout removal were more subtle and study in collaboration with Mr. Trip Knapp, R. A., H. K. Preisler, K. R. Matthews, suggested that trout have little direct ef- Armstrong, a graduate student at the and R. Jellison. 2003. Developing probabi- University of California–Davis, pro- listic models to predict amphibian site occu- fect on nutrient cycling, algal biomass, pancy in a patchy landscape. Ecological and primary productivity. vided experimental evidence that the Applications, 13: 1069–1082. Together, these comparative and majority of non-native trout popula- Matthews, K. R., and R. A. Knapp. 1999. A experimental studies provided critical tions in currently stocked lakes of the study of high mountain lake fish stocking effects on the U.S. Sierra Nevada wilder- evidence that the practice of introduc- John Muir Wilderness are self-sustain- ness. IJW 5: 24–26. ing trout into naturally fishless lakes ing and will persist without any further Matthews, K. R., R. A. Knapp, and K. L. Pope. was causing considerable alteration of stocking. Research is now beginning on 2002. Garter snake distributions in high-el- a study of the effects of introduced trout evation aquatic ecosystems: Is there a link these high-elevation wilderness ecosys- with declining amphibian populations and tems. In addition, results from both on alpine-nesting birds, effects that may nonnative trout introductions? Journal of studies suggested that these effects were result from competition between trout Herpetology, 36: 16–22. largely reversible if trout could be re- and birds for shared invertebrate prey. Matthews, K. R., K. L. Pope, R. A. Knapp, and Over the past several years, I have H. K. Preisler. 2001. Effects of nonnative trout moved. But, the question remained: on Pacific treefrogs (Hyla regilla) in the Si- Did these results apply directly to lower worked closely with biologists in the Na- erra Nevada. Copeia, 101: 1130–1137. elevation aquatic ecosystems? To find tional Park Service and the California Sarnelle, O., and R. A. Knapp. In press. Zoop- out, between 2000 and 2002, my field Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) to lankton recovery after fish removal: Limita- tions of the egg bank. Limnology and crews and I visited all lakes and ponds design and implement programs to restore Oceanography. (3,000) in Yosemite National Park and some wilderness lakes to their natural Schindler, D. E., R. A. Knapp, and P. R. Leavitt. described the consequences of trout in- fishless condition. In addition, study 2001. Alteration of nutrient cycles and algal results have prompted the CDFG to dra- production resulting from fish introductions troductions to these lower-elevation into mountain lakes. Ecosystems, 4: 308–321. systems. Results from this study again matically curtail trout stocking in indicated that faunal composition is wilderness areas of the Sierra Nevada. ROLAND A. KNAPP is a research biologist substantially changed by trout intro- with the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, University of California. He can ductions and that the native fauna does REFERENCES Knapp, R. A., P. S. Corn, and D. E. Schindler. be contacted at HCR 79, Box 198, Crowley recover following trout disappearance. 2001. The introduction of nonnative fish into lake, CA 93546, USA. E-mail: However, it was also found that high- wilderness lakes: Good intentions, conflicting [email protected].

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 33 SCIENCE and RESEARCH

PERSPECTIVES FROM THE ALDO LEOPOLD WILDERNESS RESEARCH INSTITUTE

The Wilderness Stewardship Reference System

BY PETER LANDRES

ilderness stewardship faces increasingly com plex challenges from myriad internal and ex- W ternal threats to wilderness, along with increasing demands for the use of wilderness for all manner of differ- ent purposes. Wilderness managers are looking for information to help them answer difficult questions, for example, about whether competitive recreational events should be allowed, if herbicides should be used to control weeds, if non-native fish should be removed, or if fuels accumulated from fire suppression should be removed. The new Wilderness Stewardship Reference System (WSRS) was designed to provide quick and easy access over •Code of Federal Regulations pursuant to wilderness leg- the Internet (www.wilderness.net/WSRS) to U.S. legislative, islation administrative, judicial, and scientific information on more • Agency policies on wilderness than 60 difficult wilderness stewardship issues. The pri- • Judicial decisions of major cases affecting wilderness mary purpose of the WSRS is to provide information that stewardship will help managers make decisions consistent with the let- • Annotated scientific publications relevant to wilderness ter and spirit of the 1964 Wilderness Act, subsequent stewardship. wilderness legislation, and agency policies. The WSRS ap- The WSRS provides easy access to this information, and plies to all four U.S. federal agencies responsible for should be especially useful for people who are not familiar managing wilderness and may be useful to a variety of other with how to search for legislative, policy, and judicial infor- people interested in wilderness and its stewardship. mation. The WSRS offers three different methods of Collaboratively developed between the Leopold Institute searching for this information: and the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Cen- 1. One issue—the information is organized into six gen- ter, the WSRS is hosted on Wilderness.net, a website that eral categories which are then further divided into provides a variety of resources for wilderness stewardship. specific issues The WSRS is organized around specific issues such as 2. All issues—all the types of information that are avail- mining, access, inholdings, commercial services, and fire able for all issues are displayed in a single, large table and provides excerpts, as appropriate, from the following 3. Keyword—any word or combination of words is used types of information: to search for all of the information that is available based • Special provisions language in wilderness legislation on the keyword(s). • Legislative history of congressional discussion before a wilderness law was passed Continued on page 22

34 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 EDUCATION and COMMUNICATION

“A Minor Accomplishment”

Roald Amundsen’s Classic Alaskan Trek

BY JIM GLOVER

o send a telegraph, Roald Amundsen, in the winter pemmican, which I was rather of 1904–05, traveled over a thousand miles across annoyed at having to send back T Alaska’s Brooks Range by dogsled, skis, toboggan, because Captain Mogg would and snowshoe. Amundsen’s biographer, Roland Huntford, not admit that pemmican was called this trip “in itself a minor accomplishment” the best provision for sledge (Huntford, 1979, p. 110). It was only minor because it came trips” (Amundsen, 1927, p. at the end of a four-year expedition during which a six- 213). Pemmican was a sort of member team of Norwegian sailors discovered the elusive high-fat and protein precursor “Northwest Passage”—they found a water route from the of the powerbar; it usually fea- Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, ending several centuries of tured dried meat, animal fat, search. Amundsen needed to send his telegraph to announce salt, and other nutrients. the news and to let his crew’s relatives back home know Throughout the journey, in that they were still alive. fact, Amundsen was frequently Amundsen later received more fame as the “discoverer” of reminded of the contrast between Article author Jim Glover. the South Pole. So, his little jaunt across the Brooks Range and his own notions of nutrition and back has never been given much attention. But for students of Mogg’s. For one thing, Amundsen understood that food is fuel, land-based wilderness travel, it might be educational—and and that we burn a lot of it on expedition, especially in cold fun—to examine this thousand-mile journey undertaken by weather. “From the beginning of my career as a sailor,” he one of the true masters of wilderness travel. wrote in his book on the Northwest Passage, “I had noticed On October 24, 1905, Amundsen left Herschel Island, that the rations dealt out to us were much too small for a man off the north coast of Canada, near the Alaska-Yukon border. to do any real hard work on, so I always utilized every oppor- With him were three others. One was Captain William Mogg, tunity … to make up for the shortage in the days to come” the 60-year-old commander of a whaling ship that had bro- (1927, p. 227). He had several such opportunities on this trip, ken down near Herschel. The others were a middle-aged when his foursome ran into Eskimo and Indian hunting par- Eskimo couple, known as Jimmy and Kappa, who acted more ties. When this happened, he would sometimes spend whole or less as guides for the first Brooks Range crossing. days “feasting on the fresh meat we purchased,” and packing Amundsen was absolutely broke, so he traveled as Cap- more away for the days ahead. The medium of exchange was tain Mogg’s “guest.” This meant Mogg was in charge, and often tea, for which, said Amundsen, “the Eskimos here would Amundsen found this challenging. He had naturally devel- sell their immortal souls” (1927, p. 228). oped certain ideas about wilderness travel, some of which Captain Mogg placed much less emphasis on food. On were then novel but later proved sound. His ideas about one occasion the party met an Eskimo family that had just food and nutrition are an excellent example, and sure harvested 60 caribou. Recalled Amundsen: “Jimmy and I enough, these clashed with those of Captain Mogg. winked at each other behind our leader’s back, happy at “I had brought several things,” Amundsen later wrote, the chance of having another good meal” (1927, p. 228). “that Captain Mogg did not see the desirability of taking. Shelter, of course, is a key element of wilderness travel. … There was [for instance], a tin of about 14 pounds of The tent for this trip consisted of a large, bowl-shaped

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 35 cluded two layers of caribou-fur anoraks, which, he observed: Hang loosely outside the trou- sers and the air has free ac- cess all the way up the body. Inner and outer trousers are held up round the waist with a cord and hang free over the kamikks [boots], so that the air can circulate freely. I find it excellent, and the only way to wear fur clothes, if one is to avoid sweating. (Huntford, 1979, p. 98)

As for the traveling conditions, these varied, depending on elevation. When they first left Herschel Island and were crossing the coastal plain, the snow was patchy, which made dog Figure 1—The Firth River in the Arctic Refuge. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. sledding difficult. Amundsen’s sledge runners scraped so much bare ground canvas and 18 long willow poles. The three-pole triangular tent is far prefer- that their iron coating wore through poles would somehow be secured to able” (1927, p. 221). and the wood underneath splintered. the ground, one opposite another, then The tent did have a chimney hole His dogs, consequently, had to work bent over to form arches, and lashed so that a wood-burning stove could extra hard to pull their load. Also, the together at the top. The canvas was be installed inside, for both cooking rivers were not completely frozen yet, then stretched over, and the shelter and warmth. Being the “guest,” so they sometimes had to slosh was ready. It worked adequately, but Amundsen was assigned the “pleasant through water. Other stretches were Amundsen, the perfectionist, found chore of cook in the morning.” This simply icy, and in such stretches gusts several faults with it. Compared to the was “fortunate,” Amundsen wrote, of wind sometimes overturned dogs, simpler system he’d used when find- since he seemed to be the only one sledges, and humans. ing the Passage, it took too long to set who could get up in the morning. The This was all “very tiring,” but up. Also, “all the necessary lashings heat from the wood stove “seemed to Amundsen was overjoyed. The reason: had to be done with the bare hands”— act like a narcotic” on his three com- He saw trees and rocks for the first time a critical concern in the extremely cold panions (1927, p. 223). in two years. His first tree was a little fir temperatures in which Amundsen Clothing, too, was of great interest hanging out of a rock crevice. “At the traveled. What annoyed him more was to Amundsen. Indeed, he pioneered moment I could have abandoned every- the awkward way this tent packed up the use of Eskimo clothing technol- thing … and scrambled up the rock to for travel. The long poles, when ogy by European wilderness travelers. catch hold of that crooked stem and packed on a sled, “made it look like a While finding the Northwest Passage, draw in the scent of the fir trees and the hedgehog, and were constantly getting he started to “go around dressed com- woods” (Amundsen, 1927, p. 224). caught in something or other on the pletely as a [Netsilik] Eskimo” They were following what way.” He concluded “an ordinary (Amundsen, 1987, p. 22). This in- Amundsen called the Herschel Island River. Today it is called the Firth River. It begins in the eastern Brooks Range Clothing, too, was of great interest to Amundsen. (the Davidson Mountains), flows north and east through Canada’s Indeed, he pioneered the use of Eskimo clothing Avvavik National Park, and finally drains into the Beaufort Sea near technology by European wilderness travelers. Herschel Island. For many centuries

36 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 it had been a route of trade between Native American groups on the Arctic He seems to have made this entire return trip, in the coast and those in the interior. Amundsen reached the Arctic di- dead of winter, with very little sunlight each day and vide on November 3rd, ten days after 40- to 60-below temperatures, by himself! leaving Herschel Island. At this point they were on the eastern edge of today’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. mode of travel it could be. Now he 1906, Amundsen got back on his be- A day or two earlier they had switched would show them. One day, while loved skis behind his dogsled and from sleds with runners to toboggans Jimmy was breaking trail in snow- headed north, back across the Brooks because the snow in the mountains shoes, Amundsen glided effortlessly Range to Herschel Island 500 miles away. was deeper and softer. Amundsen de- past him. He says he called out, “Well, The exceptional thing about this scribed the toboggan as “made like a Jimmy, what do you think of skis return trip is that Amundsen found it ski, twelve feet long, and six times as now?” and was soon a long way in so unexceptional. He says nothing of broad as an ordinary ski, but with a front (1927, p. 234). A few years later, it in his book on the Northwest Pas- considerable curve” (1927, p. 219). when he led the first-ever party to the sage except that he had some “liberal Just like sleds, the toboggans were South Pole, world-class skiing would hospitality along the way” at a few pulled by dogs. Their big disadvan- be a major factor in his success. roadhouses and frontier cabins. tage was that they were harder to pack, It still took until December 5 to And yet, he seems to have made this being smaller and having no side rails. reach Eagle, where Amundsen finally entire return trip, in the dead of win- The procedure now was for three got to send his telegraph. The day he ter, with very little sunlight each day people to break trail in the loose snow, arrived, the temperature outside was and 40- to 60-below temperatures, by by snowshoeing ahead. Then –62° F. Shortly after he sent his mes- himself! At least that’s the impression Amundsen, already the best dog sage, the intense cold disabled the from his book, and from Huntford, who driver, followed with two dog teams, telegraph wires. says of Amundsen’s return trip, “The each pulling a toboggan. Amundsen spent most of the next snow was better, there was no passen- They soon dropped into the upper two months in Eagle, waiting for some ger and the journey was easier than the reaches of Porcupine River, which is on mail to come through from Norway for outward one” (Huntford, 1979, p.113). modern maps. On this descent, his companions so he could deliver it to There may be many more details Amundsen played the clown. He seems them. It finally did, and on February 3, about this casual winter trip of to have been a serious man with a play- ful streak. Anyway, he decided to toboggan down the hill without the dogs. So he unharnessed them, jumped, on and “let her go.” But when the dogs saw the toboggan take off, they ran to get in front. Amundsen, dogs, and toboggan somersaulted down the hill, while Mogg nearly “split his sides” and the two Eskimos “screamed with delight” (Amundsen, 1927, p. 233). Once the Porcupine Valley wid- ened, the rest of the journey to civilization was relatively easy. Mogg rode the whole second half of the trip, while Amundsen glided along on skis. He had grown up skiing and was very partial to it, but he had been unable Figure 2—The Porcupine River in the Arctic Refuge. Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. to convince the others how efficient a

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 37 Amundsen’s that would be of great inter- From BOOK REVIEWS on page 48 est to present-day wilderness travelers. The best source would be Amundsen’s diary, which Huntford quotes from ex- contend that what Schindler previously National Park, perhaps holds the great- tensively. The diary is at a library in Oslo, refered to as “wicked problems” shift est interest for wilderness proponents. Norway. It is written in Norwegian (of according to their level of divisiveness, The idea for a national park in north- course) and, as far as I have been able to intensity, pervasiveness, and complex- ern Minnesota was originally proposed in tell, has never been translated into other ity. Stakeholders are polarized 1891, one month after the passage of the languages, including English. If it ever is, differently by the conflict and the lev- Forest Reserve Act. Focusing on I’ll be the first in line for a copy. els at which they become emotionally Minnesota’s northern border with Canada For now we’ll just have to watch involved in the relevant issues. In ad- and including areas surrounding Crane Amundsen in our imaginations as he dition, these conflicts may permeate the Lake, Ash River, and Kabetogama, this makes his return trip. I see a lone skier public and private lives of individuals, park concept was opposed by political and with a dog team and a sack of mail, affecting various strata of a community. timber interests. In 1925, the Minnesota traveling for a month by himself, liv- Lewicki, Gray, and Elliott assert that and Ontario Paper Company announced ing on pemmican and caribou, intractable environmental conflicts are plans to build a series of dams that would entering the present-day Arctic Na- often shaped and maintained by how dramatically alter water levels in the area. tional Wildlife Refuge, re-crossing the individuals frame an issue (i.e., how we Conservationists opposed these plans, and Arctic Divide, perhaps tobogganing interpret what is going on during a con- conflict between factions developed. Over down in what is now Ivvavik National flict and formulate ideas about the roles the next several decades, the positions of Park, crossing the coastal plain, and of stakeholders). According to the edi- forestry companies, politicians, wilderness finally rejoining his countrymen on tors, frames are used to define the nature preservationists, and community members March 12, 1906. Naturally, they were of a conflict, identify a mechanism for became entrenched. Despite this opposi- happy to see him, and especially elated conflict resolution, justify actions, pro- tion, the Voyageurs National Park was by the mail from home. tect oneself in case of litigation, and created in 1971. Since that time, conten- As already mentioned, Amundsen mobilize others to take action. Making tious issues, including proposing the would later, in 1911, win a dramatic race Sense of Intractable Environmental Con- designation of the Kabetogama Peninsula for the South Pole with a small, fast team flicts focuses on three frames: (1) identity as a wilderness area and restricting deer of expert dog mushers and skiers frames focus on how one views oneself and duck hunting, have resulted in a (Glover, 1998). His thousand-mile jour- and the group to which one claims kin- firestorm of controversy. Lewicki, Gray, and ney in Alaska to send a telegram was an ship; (2) characterization frames mirror Elliott demonstrate how stakeholders important piece of training for his mas- identity frames in that they reflect how framed these issues, thereby contributing terpiece expedition. It was indeed “by individuals perceive others and the to adversarial postures. itself a minor accomplishment.” groups to which others belong; and (3) Making Sense of Intractable Environmen- conflict management frames focus on tal Conflicts provides an insightful analysis REFERENCES how individuals believe the conflict of how social conflicts develop and be- Amundsen, R. 1927. First Crossing of the Polar should be resolved. The reframing of a come entrenched. It is not the intention Sea. New York: George H. Doran Co. ———. 1987. The Amundsen Photographs. conflict may occur when an alternate of the editors to delve deeply into the Edited by Roland Huntford. New York: At- perspective is presented, but this is un- solutions for these conflicts, as that is left lantic Monthly Press. likely without external intervention. to others. This volume provides an im- Glover, J. M. 1998. Dashing through the snow: The book is divided into subsections portant extension of the academic Amundsen, Scott, and their modern-day counterparts. IJW, 4(1): 4–9. focusing on natural resources, water, literature by focusing on the most messy Huntford, R. 1979. Scott and Amundsen. Lon- toxic pollutants, and growth-related and, thus, challenging environmental don: Hodder and Stoughton. management. Each subsection presents conflicts in the United States. two detailed case studies that highlight JAMES M. GLOVER is a frequent contribu- Reviewed by JOANNA KAFAROWSKI, a contemporary environmental conflicts tor to IJW and an associate professor at doctoral student in Natural Resource Southern Illinois University. He can be in the United States. The fourth chap- Management and Environmental Studies at reached at [email protected]. ter, which relates to the creation and the University of Northern British Columbia. subsequent management of Voyageurs E-mail: [email protected].

38 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 EDUCATION and COMMUNICATION

The Wrangell Mountains Center’s College Field Program

Student-Faculty Groups Engage Alaska Wilderness Issues in Rugged Terrain

BY BENJAMIN A. SHAINE

Introduction from other coun- Education that combines fieldwork with collaborative, ap- tries), earn academic plied research and writing can be done anywhere. But in the credit through a wild Wrangell Mountains, enormous scale and rapid rates of partnership with change make the experience especially vivid. Students in the University of Cali- Wrangell Mountains Center’s college program find themselves fornia-Santa Bar- in trailless terrain, both physically and for many wilderness bara Extension’s issues, where alternatives remain unexplored and policies Wildlands Studies. are yet unresolved. This setting rewards creativity and initia- Most are under- tive. It also demands respect for its challenging realities. graduates ranging Article author Ben Shaine lecturing at Kennicott Glacier in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Photo by The educational benefits of this program include, but in age from 19 to Wrangell Mountains Center. go beyond, interdisciplinary study of natural history and 22, although gradu- land-use policy. Both the routes traveled and the projects ate students and people in their 40s have enrolled. Research undertaken create challenges that build community within topics are developed in partnership with National Park Ser- the program. Because they have experienced it, participants vice staff and with the assistance of local scientists, writers, come away knowing that cooperative living is possible in artists, and guides. this world. The focus on hands-on fieldwork gives them an In 2003, the program went to the Chitistone-Skolai area opportunity to integrate abstract thought with personal of the park. Students inventoried significant attributes of experiences. Through field journal entries, including draw- the area, proposed interpretive themes, and described cur- ing and creative writing as well as scientific observation rent and desired conditions and management issues for this and policy analysis, participants practice an attentiveness most-visited part of the park backcountry. With Park Ser- that serves them well in other situations. Above all, the vice support, students replicated an earlier inventory of trail land itself is the teacher, inescapably demonstrating the and campsite conditions. Previous studies have invento- beauty and inevitability of natural processes and the neces- ried and suggested criteria for evaluating backcountry sity of adapting to them. conditions in the Kennicott Basin closer to McCarthy. Stu- About half of the program occurs while backpacking. dents and staff have also worked on a guide to the natural During the other half, students are based out of the center’s and cultural history of the Wrangell Mountains. This will historic headquarters, which was the McCarthy Hardware be a multiyear project to which local residents and succes- Store during the copper mining days of almost a century sive generations of students can contribute, resulting in a ago, a short walk from the Kennicott Glacier. Students, who book published annually in revised editions. Partial fund- come from campuses across the country (and sometimes ing has come through a cooperative agreement with the

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 39 The Program Structure airstrip in the backcountry for resup- The first part of the program is a struc- ply, academic discussion, storytelling, tured introduction to the place, to living and an opportunity to meet with guest and travel skills, and to an array of aca- faculty and park staff. demic disciplines. We introduce natural We return to McCarthy for a week history journaling techniques with staff of project completion. Students first presentations, field exercises, and en- write up drafts, then give an oral pre- suing discussions. Using their journals sentation before an audience that as a primary tool, students develop their includes center resident fellows, park abilities in drawing, essay writing, po- staff, and local scientists. Using com- ments received in the presentation, Figure 1—Both the routes traveled and the projects undertaken etry (especially the short forms of haiku create challenges that build community within the program. and renga), Grinnell entries, and the students and faculty then together Photo by Wrangell Mountains Center. hypothesis-testing scientific experi- make revisions and create the final mental method. report, including text and illustrations, laid out and ready for printing. The Park Service, which, it is hoped, will be Days are devoted to studying topics learning curve during this period can supplemented with foundation grants. such as ecological succession, rock be near-vertical; a student who starts Administratively, the biggest chal- identification, plate tectonics, and park the evening never having seen an ex- lenge is maintaining the staff such a history. These sessions are done on ecutive summary may have written program requires. For safety as well short walks from our McCarthy head- one for publication by midnight. as academics, in the field a student- quarters and on an initial backcountry This schedule is intense. Over two staff ratio of 4:1 is preferred. It takes trip to a base camp, usually one or two months, students have only a couple at least a year of experience in the place days’ walk up the glacier from town. of unscheduled days. We are still to prepare even a skilled person for a Teams of students are each assigned a learning how to conduct the program teaching position. Priority is placed on question to study through observations so everyone, students and staff, stays retaining staff, who often stay with the during this trip and to report on to the within their comfort limits and main- program for many years in varying group. Such questions might include, tains a sense of spaciousness in their roles. As a result, the staff consists of a for example, “What evidence do we lives. Each year, we do better. combination of core faculty, who live find on the land of previous glacial ad- The choice of project is critical. Al- together throughout the program, and vances and what was their extent?” We though we have often had students do guests, including those doing residen- also focus on hiking and camping skills. individual or small team projects, we cies at the center, along with local For some students, this trip is their first find that they are most motivated when scientists, artists, guides, and park time camping, and likely none of them they work together as a group on a topic staff, who participate for shorter peri- has dealt with terrain like the Wrangell that is important to a large audience. ods, often on a volunteer basis. Mountains before. Over time, we have discovered that the The year 2004 marks the center’s During the second part of the pro- best topics call for extensive field work, 22nd annual summer season. All of the gram, the students conduct field are amenable to being broken down Center’s programs share features de- research. The itinerary for a two- to into tasks doable by subgroups of two veloped in the college course: three-week wilderness trip is set to meet to four, are simple enough to be com- emphasis on hands-on experience specific data-gathering and observation pleted with quality by inexperienced with the place, community living, and needs. We divide into backpacking students in a few weeks, involve learn- empowering participants to take an groups of six to eight students and two ing new skills, and have the potential active role in public life. staff, which may rendezvous near an to make an original contribution. In the Wrangell Mountains, there are many The land itself is the teacher, inescapably demonstrating options that meet these criteria. The program reflects a set of under- the beauty and inevitability of natural processes lying principles that guide our agenda: and the necessity of adapting to them. • Embodiment: Learning involves all the senses in direct contact with the

40 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 place. Concepts provided by aca- things well. For our seminars, we demic disciplines help enable this pick a limited number of readings, experience but are incomplete with- mostly from primary sources, out it. Practical skills, including which exemplify scholarly rigor keeping warm in the rain, fording and lucid presentation. Because streams, and route finding, are also they write for an outside audience important. We learn through our that cares about the product, par- muscles as well as our minds. ticipants are motivated to achieve • Community: We explicitly value com- quality, even if it means editing 10 munity living, including the joys of sloppy pages down to 1 tight para- cooking, cleaning, and the daily graph. Camping in grizzly country maintenance required to live com- and fording bridgeless glacial riv- fortably away from the support of ers makes an equivalent demand. modern utilities and urban infra- • Engagement: In both research structure. While living and learning projects and wilderness living, our communities can exist on a college practices demonstrate that indi-

campus, the challenges of the vidual and collective actions can Figure 2—The focus on hands-on fieldwork gives Wrangell Mountains make it a much make a difference in the outcome students an opportunity to integrate abstract thought more intense experience, affecting of events. Going into topics and with personal experiences. Photo by Wrangell Mountains Center. how the members of the group ex- places where few have tread before, perience not only their human our students discover that not only relationships, but the place itself. are they capable of taking care of enable them to venture to similar • Collaboration: We undertake projects themselves, but that they can make places on their own, with the freedom that call for the efforts and talents of original, creative contributions that to choose their agenda. people working together toward a affect the future of a place they care common objective. In this way, we about. Our intent is to empower The Challenge of the prepare participants for civic and pro- them personally and as citizens to Wrangell Mountains fessional involvement with complex take responsibility for their actions. Together with the adjacent parks that environmental and public policy is- Doing so as an academic program, comprise a World Heritage Site extend- sues, for working in interdisciplinary we approach policy questions in the ing through parts of Canada and down teams, and for functioning well with spirit of inquiry, rather than as par- to Glacier Bay, Wrangell-St. Elias National people of diverse viewpoints. ticipants in political battles. While Park and Preserve is the continent’s pre- • Cooperation: The emphasis on coop- recognizing the importance of eminent example of a dynamic natural eration, empathy, and compassion adversarial politics, we show that landscape. Far from equilibrium, its extends throughout the program, there are many ways to participate landforms and their biota often undergo from mutual assistance in writing and in public and community life. change visible in the span of a human rewriting report drafts to helping each • Joy: All of the above, done in the lifetime, or even a single season. other move through the country. magnificence of the Wrangell Glaciers melt, rivers change course, When stronger participants reach a Mountains, is cause for celebration. mountains slide. Change over longer high pass, they are encouraged to Our groups carry banjos into the time periods is starkly visible in con- drop their packs, go back down, and wilds and sing while walking with torted rock layers exposed in mountain take loads from people still heading Dall sheep and mountain goats cliffs. As the Grand Canyon is known up from below. Slower hikers are en- through sun, rain, and mosquitoes. for its monumental static geology, the couraged to do their best, while seeing While recognizing the value of soli- Wrangell Mountains similarly demon- the yielding of their loads positively, tude and leisure in the wilds, we strate a land in transformation. as a gift to the group. acknowledge that our program does The protected area’s size—13 million • Discipline: Taking on demanding not provide much opportunity for it. acres (5.3 million ha) in Wrangell-St. projects in an unforgiving wilder- However, our graduates can come Elias and 24 million overall, includ- ness land makes it necessary to do away with skills and experiences that ing the contiguous areas of the World

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 41 Heritage Site—enables maintenance of jurisdiction, most originally patented as the size of Switzerland, the agency is natural habitat, species populations, mining claims, are scattered throughout but one player among many, includ- and predator-prey relationships not the public lands. ing the state of Alaska, Native-owned possible in smaller parklands. Wilder- Even in the backcountry of the corporations, and private individuals, ness can be experienced on a scale not nation’s most rugged and largest desig- who participate in defining its future. available elsewhere. Most overland nated wilderness, access is easier than Similar to the legal and regulatory situ- travel is cross-country without trails; in much smaller parks elsewhere. Park ation, the expectations, images, and rivers and ridges are often impassable rules provide for motorized access. Air understandings people have about the obstacles. Grizzly bears, rather than taxis land anywhere physically possible park remain fluid and subject to change. people, are often the top predators. in the park, dropping visitors off at re- Accessible sources of information are few, Paradoxically, the Wrangell Mountains mote sites. Snow machines and especially given the huge size and diver- are also a place where people not only motorboats are currently unregulated. sity of the area. As a result, a vision that visit, but live. Unlike most parks in the Two decades after Congress desig- would provide a foundation for the di- lower states, Wrangell-St. Elias has hu- nated the park, many complexities rection of park management remains man residents with the experiences and arising from this paradox remain un- relatively unformed. Over time, under- perspectives that come from knowing a resolved. The Park Service is just now standing of park values and purposes will place as home. That home encompasses making tentative steps toward its first become clearer. Meanwhile, there is great not only private lands within park bound- backcountry plan. It has embarked on opportunity to influence the ways that aries, but the public lands as well. Whole its first interpretive plan, which explic- the park is perceived and, thus, how it is small towns, such as McCarthy, are within itly recognizes ongoing human treated. These conditions provide the park boundaries. Predating the park, they residence along with natural and wil- context for our field program. The op- continue to grow and change. Other pri- derness values. With a small staff portunities are as great as the challenges. vate holdings, outside Park Service responsible for management of an area Quite a few alumni have returned to the Wrangell Mountains in subse- quent years. Some have returned to Conservation International Joins IJW Sponsors complete fieldwork for undergraduate We are pleased to announce that Con- Earth’s Last Wild Places”—see article and graduate theses in landscape ar- servation International (CI) will be a in IJW’s August 2003 issue, and book chitecture, anthropology, and natural lead sponsor of the IJW, joining the review by John Shultis, IJW, April, sciences. Others have moved to Alaska existing group of distinguished NGOs 2004), CI’s commitment to wilderness after finishing college. Some have es- and government agencies that under- conservation continues to grow. tablished homes in the McCarthy area, write the Journal financially or in-kind. “CI is very pleased to be part of the worked as backcountry guides, or Founded in 1987, CI has offices in IJW and its constituency,” said Dr. joined our staff. Whether or not they more than 40 countries on four conti- Russell Mittermeier, CI’s president. return to the Alaska wilderness, par- nents. CI applies innovations in science, “The organizations responsible for this ticipants leave the Wrangell Mountains economics, policy, and community par- high-quality and timely journal are key seeing their own home place in a dif- ticipation to protect the Earth’s richest players in an active and critically im- ferent light. We hope they return home regions of plant and animal diversity in portant wildlands debate in to discover that the natural wildness the hot spots, high-biodiversity wilder- international conservation.” so obvious in the Wrangell Mountains ness areas, and key marine ecosystems. IJW readers will learn more of CI in in reality exists everywhere, even if ob- CI has a long-standing commitment the coming year, with a one-page scured by civilization’s overlay. to wilderness conservation, in particu- report in each issue on CI’s wilderness lar in the high-biodiversity wilderness and wilderness-related activities and BEN SHAINE is on the board of the areas. As evidenced by its leadership perspectives. IJW’s all-volunteer edito- Wrangell Mountains Center, an institute for in a number of large-scale wilderness rial staff gives its sincere thanks to education, research, and the arts in protection initiatives in Amazonia, CI and all of IJW’s sponsors, whose McCarthy, Alaska, and teaches with its New Guinea, and Congo, not to men- support keeps the IJW in production University of California–Santa Barbara tion a comprehensive survey of the with the best possible content and Wildlands Studies college program. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: planet’s wilderness areas (“Wilderness: distribution. www.wrangells.org.

42 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

South Africa’s uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site Celebrates 30 Years of Wilderness

BY SONJA KRÜGER and JOHN CROWSON

Introduction While the United States of America celebrates 40 years of its Wilderness Act during 2004, South Africa is currently celebrating 30 years of its first wilderness proclamation in the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site (UDP WHS). Proclamation of wilderness in South Africa was mod- eled after the United States of America’s Wilderness Act of 1964. The South African Department of Forestry managed the majority of the catchment areas in the Drakensberg mountains of the KwaZulu-Natal province. During the 1970s, Secretary Ackerman for the Department of Forestry encouraged the designation of wilderness areas in South Africa. Since most of the land managed by the Department Article co-authors (from l to r) Sonja Krüger and John Crowson. Photo by Henry Hibbet. of Forestry still retained much of its original character, he was determined to ensure the long-term protection of these During 1973, the first three wilderness areas were pro- wild areas for the benefit of all South Africans. claimed in South Africa under the provisions of the National The National Forests Act (No. 84 of 1998) protects state Forests Act. The first two wilderness areas to be proclaimed forests, forest nature reserves, and wilderness areas and the were Mdedelelo (27,000 ha; 66,690 acres) and Mkhomazi plant and animal life contained therein. In addition, the act (48,000 ha; 118,560 acres) (Government Notice 791 of 1973) allows for management programs to be established in or- in the UDP WHS. Next came the proclamation of the Cedarberg der to prevent soil erosion and fire, maintain the natural wilderness in the mountains of the Western Cape province. genetic and species diversity, and control plants and ani- mals that are harmful to a particular area. The act provides The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park for the control and reasonable access to state forests for the World Heritage Site purposes of recreation, education, culture, or spiritual ful- The uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park is an inland mountain fillment. Also, people are prohibited from damaging state range in southeastern Africa (see Figure 1) that received World forests or contributing to the threat of fire. Forest officers Heritage status in 1999 for both its natural and cultural val- are empowered to arrest any person who has contravened ues. The UDP WHS comprises 12 component protected areas this act and may seize such person’s property. (referred to as reserves), totaling 242,813 ha (599,748 acres)

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 43 The habitat within the UDP WHS ranges in diversity from the high-alti- tude mountain peaks and summit plateaux with their diverse vegetation communities and unique alpine tun- dra (fynbos types), to steep slopes in midaltitude areas supporting a wide variety of grassland, fynbos scrubland, and woodland vegetation communi- ties, to lower lying areas in river valleys that contain various grassland and for- est vegetation communities. Found within these habitats is a remarkable richness of plant and animal species. The UDP WHS is located within the Drakensberg Alpine Region, a center Figure 1—The location of the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site within KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. of plant diversity and endemism. A total of 2,153 species of plants have that is state owned. The land is managed Escarpment of the southern African sub- been recorded for the UDP WHS with by a provincial conservation body, continent (KZN NCS 2000). This an endemism percentage of 29.5%, Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, which escarpment formation, which includes and 109 listed threatened species per is also the proposed management author- the Drakensberg Escarpment compo- Red Data List category (Hilton-Taylor ity of the World Heritage Site. The UDP nent, is intimately linked to the 1996: Walter and Gillett 1998). WHS also forms part of the Maloti- geomorphic history of the subcontinent The UDP WHS is considered to be one Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and the fragmentation of the Gondwana of the eight major centers of herpetofauna and Development Area, and shares its bor- supercontinent. The Great Escarpment diversity in southern Africa (Branch 1998) ders with three provinces of South Africa reaches its greatest and most spectacu- and contains four local endemics and 40 and an international border with Lesotho. lar expression in the Drakensberg South African endemic species. A total of The mean annual temperature of the Mountains that lie within the UDP WHS 296 bird species have been recorded for Drakensberg is about 16oC (61°F), and and contain landscapes and features of the UDP WHS (Johnson, personal com- the annual precipitation totals vary be- exceptional natural beauty. The geomor- munication, 2004) of which 43 are southern tween about 1,000 mm (40 inches) in phological processes by which they were African endemics, and 32 species are en- the foothills to 1,800 mm (72 inches) formed are of universal importance. demic to South Africa. Some 18 species at the escarpment. Precipitation occurs recorded for the UDP WHS are listed in the predominantly (70%) in the summer Biological Values South African Red Data List as threatened months (November to March). Snow- Also of outstanding universal impor- species, such as the endangered bearded falls, with an average frequency of about tance are the mountain and wetland vulture, Gypaetus barbatus (see Figure 2). eight days of snowfall per year, occur ecosystems (the UDP WHS was pro- There are 48 species of mammals occur- in winter, predominantly at high eleva- claimed a Ramsar Site in 1997) with their ring in the UDP WHS. Although the tions. With altitudes varying from full complement of plants and animals, invertebrate fauna are poorly known, stud- 1,280 meters (4,200 feet) to nearly including many endemic and interna- ies that have been undertaken on several 3,500 meters (11,483 feet), a range of tionally recognized threatened species. taxa have found Paleogenic insects unique 2,200 meters (7,218 feet), the The UDP WHS is an outstanding ex- to South Africa and particularly to the Drakensberg has a great variation in its ample of one of the few high mountain Drakensberg mountain region, as well as topography, with summit plateaux and grassland areas within the African Grass- many species endemic to the region. peaks, vast basalt and sandstone cliffs, land Biome sufficiently large enough for deep valleys, and intervening spurs. the existing and original ecological and Cultural Values The UDP WHS is the largest pro- biological processes to operate without In addition to its natural values, the tected area established on the Great interference (KZN NCS 2000). UDP WHS is globally significant from

44 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 World Heritage Site Wilderness Resource Almost the entire area of the UDP WHS is in unmodified, near-pristine condition. The UDP WHS, although used by humans for a long time, has never been occupied by significantly Figure 2—The Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barbatus, an endangered species whose breeding range is large human settlements, nor has the limited to the Drakensberg escarpment in South area been subjected to significant hu- Africa. Photo by S. Krüger. man-induced land disturbances. It is estimated that the total area of a cultural perspective, in particular the the UDP WHS transformed by both rock art painted by the San hunter-gath- alien plant infestation and erers who have inhabited the area from infrastructural development is ap- about 8,000 years ago (KZN NCS proximately 1.4% of the area (3,452 2000). The uniqueness of the San rock ha; 8,526 acres). The natural ecologi- art is evidenced by the diverse subject cal and geomorphological processes matter, the minute detail portrayed, the function with little or no significant art techniques, and the animation and detrimental interference from human Figure 3—The location of the four proclaimed wilderness areas variety of positions depicted, as well as activities. Where there have been im- within the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heritage Site. the remarkable state of preservation. pacts, the UDP WHS management The number of sites is estimated at 600, approach is to restore such areas to policy for the UDP WHS wilderness ar- and the number of individual images their former status (Ezemvelo eas is to “leave no trace” so as to retain in those sites probably exceeds 35,000. KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife 2003). the wild character of these areas by pro- Numerous historic sites, living cul- Apart from the 30-year-old hibiting all forms of human-made tural sites, and sites of archaeological Mdedelelo and Mkhomazi wilderness developments. Although people may gain importance are located within the UDP areas, the UDP WHS also contains the access by foot, recreational opportunities WHS. These sites include old grave Mzimkulu, 28,340 ha (70,000 acres) within wilderness areas are managed to sites, painted shelters, and various ar- (1979) and Mlambonja, 6,270 ha allow for an experience of solitude within tifacts. The Drakensberg region ranks (15,487 acres) (1989) wilderness ar- an intrinsically unaltered natural environ- as one of the most important archaeo- eas (see Figure 3). In addition, the ment, and, thus, to provide opportunities logical areas in southern Africa. Mkhomazi wilderness area was ex- for inspiration, enrichment, self-reliance, Archaeological sites from the Early, tended by another 8,155 ha (20,143 and physical adventure. Middle, and Late Stone Ages and the acres) in 1989. The proclaimed wil- Late Iron Age are present, indicating derness areas comprise 48.5% of the Thirty years of Wilderness that the period of human occupation UDP WHS and were one of the pri- The wilderness philosophy is one of the in this mountainous region possibly mary factors contributing to the World pillars of Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal extends over the last million years. Heritage Site designation. Wildlife’s corporate identity, embracing The focus and vision of the UDP WHS a deep respect for the natural world, re- Recreational Values management team is wilderness; valuing storing it as far as possible to what it There are 15 entrance gates to the UDP and managing existing areas to a higher once was, and preserving it in as whole WHS, where members of the public state, and identifying candidate wilder- and natural a state as possible. For the enter either as day or overnight visitors. ness areas within the Maloti-Drakensberg past 30 years, the UDP WHS wilderness Overnight visitors can use camping Transfrontier Conservation area. A com- areas have been managed according to facilities, or camp in caves, and moun- prehensive management plan has been stringent wilderness principles in an at- tain and other huts. The UDP WHS drafted for the effective management and tempt to preserve wilderness for future can accommodate approximately sustainable utilization of the wilderness generations to visit, and to ensure that 2,000 persons per night. areas in the UDP WHS. The management there will always be places where people

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 45 wilderness area in the Cathedral Peak Reserve (see Figure 5). This section of the wilderness area encompasses the Didima Special Conservation Area, an area set aside to conserve the wealth and diversity of the San rock art.

Conclusion UDP WHS wilderness managers face Figure 4—Members of the southern Drakensberg management team looking at a plant fossil site (left) in the Mkhomazi wilderness area (right). Photo by S. Krüeger. many challenges, the most obvious of which is defending a philosophy that is little understood in the country as a will be able to absorb wilderness first- the youth that live in communities whole. Other threats to the wilderness hand and be changed by it. nearby the UDP WHS wilderness ar- include deproclamation, invasive and eas. The primary event celebrating 30 alien plants and animals, arson fires, re- The Mkhomazi Wilderness years of the Mkhomazi wilderness will duced budgets, and law enforcement The Mkhomazi Wilderness is part of take place in September 2004, coincid- issues such as poaching, illegal hunting and managed by four major reserves ing with the celebrations of The with dogs, cross-border drug trafficking, within the UDP WHS: Mkhomazi, Wilderness Act in the United States. and cattle rustling. These challenges Lotheni, Cobham, and Vergelegen. In Various celebrity speakers will be must be met and the threats managed celebration of the 30 years of nation- present, and educational materials in to ensure that the UDP WHS’s natural ally proclaimed wilderness, the the form of wilderness pamphlets, post- and cultural values and the wilderness southern Drakensberg management ers, and T-shirts will be available. resource are managed for the benefit of team visited a plant fossil site in the current and future generations. Mkhomazi wilderness in the Vergelegen The Mdedelelo Wilderness Reserve (see Figure 4). These plant fos- The Mdedelelo Wilderness is managed REFERENCES sils are 60 million years old and by the Cathedral Peak and Monk’s Branch, N. R. 1998. Field Guide to the Snakes represent South Africa’s best site for Cowl Reserves within the UDP WHS. and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Publishers. plant fossils in the Molteno Formation. Participants of the Mountain Protected Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife. 2003. The Several commemorative activities Areas Workshop of the World Parks uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park World Heri- are planned throughout 2004 aimed at Congress 2004 undertook a com- tage Site Draft Wilderness Management Plan. increasing wilderness awareness among memorative walk to the Mdedelelo Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: EKZNW. Hilton-Taylor, C. 1996. Red Data List of South- ern African Plants. South Africa: National Botanical Institute, Pretoria. Strelitzia 4. KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service. 2000. Nomination Proposal for the Drakensberg Park. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: KZN NCS. Walter, K. S., and H. J. Gillett. 1998. 1997 IUCN Red Data List of Threatened Plants. Gland, Switzerland: The World Conservation Union.

SONJA KRÜGER is employed by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife as the regional ecologist for the UDP WHS. E-mail: [email protected]. JOHN CROWSON is employed by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife as the Conserva- tion Manager for the southern section (comprising six reserves) of the UDP WHS. Figure 5—Participants of the Mountain Protected Areas Workshop of the World Parks Congress standing in front E-mail: [email protected]. of the Mdedelelo wilderness area. Photo by S. Krüger.

46 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 WILDERNESS DIGEST

Announcements and Wilderness Calendar

COMPILED BY STEVE HOLLENHORST

National the IJW, The Wilderness Society, Natu- ganizations, the theme for the 2005 Wilderness Conference ral Resources Defense Council, the Congress is Wilderness, Wildlands, and The National Wilderness Conference, Sierra Club, and Wilderness Watch. People—A Partnership for the Planet. scheduled for October 10–13, 2004, This is the Save the Date announcement Within the conference there will be a will celebrate the 40th anniversary of for this conference. Mark your calen- symposium on Science and Steward- The Wilderness Act. To be held in New dar and join us! For more information, ship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness York’s Adirondack Park at the Fort Wil- check out the website at www. Values. The symposium will be struc- liam Henry Resort and Conference Wilderness40th.org. tured to enhance international and Center located on scenic Lake George, intercultural communication and will this historic conference will focus on TWA 40th Anniversary integrate poster presentations into oral the history, present-day realities, and Celebration Activities presentation sessions to increase one- on-one dialogue. The symposium future of the U.S. National Wilderness The U.S. Wilderness Act was signed coordinators are seeking presenters for Preservation System. The venue is lo- into law by President Lyndon B. both oral presentations and for a “panel cated one hour’s drive from the Albany Johnson on September 3, 1964. As the of posters” for each topic. They also in- International Airport and just a short 40th anniversary approaches, many vite proposals for chairing sessions on distance from some historic, scenic, and organizations and communities around the above topics. The symposium highly accessible Wilderness locations the world are organizing commemora- themes include (1) Living with Nature: within the “Forever Wild” Adirondack tive events and activities. Learn about The Human/Wilderness Connection; Forest Preserve. The first day of the the activities and events associated with (2) Northern Wilderness Issues; (3) Eco- conference is dedicated to field trips, the celebrations in the United States at nomics and Wilderness; (4) The Role of with the next three days dedicated to http://www.wilderness.net. speakers, panelists, and workshops Wilderness in Terrestrial, Marine, and addressing a diversity of perspectives The 8th World Freshwater Biodiversity Protection, and; on the value and meaning of wilder- (5) Stewardship of Existing Wilderness. ness, the challenges and opportunities Wilderness Congress Abstracts (500 words or less, via fax, e- wilderness faces today, and the future Anchorage, Alaska, will be the venue mail, or regular mail) or interest in of America’s National Wilderness Pres- for the 8th World Wilderness Congress chairing sessions should be sent to the ervation System. The event is organized (WWC). Situated between boreal for- symposium cochairs: Alan Watson by national and Adirondack regional ests and the Arctic interior, Anchorage ([email protected]), Aldo Leopold Wil- organizations, including the Associa- also serves as gateway to the Russian derness Research Institute, Box 8089, tion for the Protection of the Far East and associated 8th WWC Missoula, MT 59807, USA; phone 406- Adirondacks, State University of New events in Kamchatka. Organized by The 542-4197, fax: 406-542-4196; and York College of Environmental Science WILD Foundation (USA), and hosted Liese Dean ([email protected]), Sawtooth and Forestry, Friends of the Clearwater, by many Alaskan and international or- National Recreation Area, USDA Forest

Submit announcements and short news articles to STEVE HOLLENHORST, IJW Wilderness Digest editor. E-mail: [email protected].

International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2 47 Service, HC64 Box 9900, Stanley, ID Mountain National Forest—In rec- David Jones, Consulting Engineer— 83278, USA; phone 208-774-3017, fax: ognition of her outstanding For their demonstration of traditional 208-774-3003. For information on the leadership in wilderness stewardship skills and innovative use of minimum preliminary announcement, registration as the former chair of the National tools and techniques to breach the material, and sponsorship information, Wilderness Advisory Group, service high hazard Canyon Lake Dam in the visit http://www.8wwc.org/. on the editorial board of IJW, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to facili- work with diverse groups and indi- tate needed repairs. 2003 National viduals to assure preservation of the • Excellence in Wilderness Steward- wilderness resource. Group Award: ship Research Award: Roland Knapp Wilderness Award National Wilderness Advisory (University of California Santa Bar- Recipients Announced Group—In recognition of their out- bara, Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research U.S. Forest Service chief Dale standing efforts to frame up a vision Laboratory) and Kathleen Matthews Bosworth recently announced the in- for the Forest Service’s wilderness (U.S. Forest Service Research) con- dividuals and groups who are program for the next 10 years. ducted the High Mountain Lake recipients of the 2003 National Wil- •Wilderness Education Leadership Project where the impacts of fish derness Awards. The awards honor Award: Wilderness Kayak Ranger stocking were assessed by surveying individuals and groups for excellence Interpretive Program, Ketchikan and over 2000 lakes in the John Muir in wilderness stewardship, education, Misty Fiords Ranger District, Wilderness (where fish stocking con- and research, and leadership in use of Tongass National Forest—In recog- tinues) and the adjacent Kings traditional skills and minimum tools. nition of their outstanding efforts in Canyon National Park (where fish The awards and recipients are developing a unique and innovative stocking was terminated). • Aldo Leopold Award for Overall wilderness educational program • Line Officer Wilderness Leadership Wilderness Stewardship Program: over the years, which has served as Award: Deb Mucklow, Spotted Bear Sylvester Creek Dam Removal a role model for others to follow. Ranger District, Flathead National Team, St. Ignace Ranger District, • Traditional Skills and Minimum Tool Forest—in recognition of her out- Hiawatha National Forest—In rec- Leadership Award: Ian Barlow, Elk standing leadership in wilderness ognition of their outstanding efforts City Ranger District, Nez Perce Na- stewardship. This includes serving in removal of the Sylvester Creek tional Forest, and Steve Romero, as leader of the Bob Marshall Wil- Dam, site restoration, and protec- Northern Region Regional Office, derness Complex Managers Group, tion of the Delirium Wilderness. with assistance from Elizabeth Ballard demonstrating leadership in pro- • Bob Marshall Award for Champion and Terri Anderson, Bitterroot Na- moting Wildland Fire Use to of Wilderness Stewardship, Indi- tional Forest; Hydrometrics, Inc., enhance wilderness values, and vidual Award: Rebecca Oreskes, Helena, Montana; Montana Conser- building positive and productive Androscoggin Ranger District, White vation Corps, Missoula Division; and relations with external partners. Book Reviews

Making Sense of Intractable Park, to the reintroduction of the gray wasted on political wrangling. In this Environmental Conflicts: wolf in Yellowstone and oil develop- volume, editors Lewicki, Gray, and Concepts and Cases. ment in the Arctic National Wildlife Elliott grapple with “intractable” envi- Edited by R. J. Lewicki, B. Gray, and M. Refuge, conflict is a ubiquitous aspect ronmental conflicts—those messy, Elliott, 2003. Island Press, Washington, of wilderness preservation and resource seemingly irreconcilable problems that DC, and Covelo, CA. 469 pages. management. Although some disputes are “riddled with long-standing ten- $27.50 (paperback). are resolved relatively painlessly, many sions that defy resolution.” The editors From damming the Hetch Hetchy Val- situations are increasingly bitter and ley, to overvisitation in Banff National prolonged, with precious resources Continued on page 38

48 International Journal of Wilderness AUGUST 2004 • VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2