What is wilderness?

[nphunter]

I consider anything designated to be wilderness. Some are right next to the road and are crappy hunting while some are great hunting. The Church is a great example of true wilderness, that country is unbelievable and I would urge anyone who hasn't been in there or even looked in there from afar to do it someday. I wouldn't necessarily recommend hunting in there unless your wolf hunting, but just the sheer size of that country is overwhelming!!

I have spent a lot of time in Hells Canyon, the Eaglecap and Blue Mountain Wilderness areas prior to going into the Church along the Salmon, nothing i have seen to date is comparable.

 

[BuzzH]

One of the core principles in establishing the Wilderness Act was to encompass enough area that travelers would spend several days traversing them, by foot or horse. In effect, leaving technology far enough away in distance and time for a 'wilderness experience.'

Along the way the political reality became to negotiate on inclusions/exclusions in proposed wilderness; peak by peak, drainage by drainage;, even to punt with Wilderness Study Area designations. Generally, older Wilderness Areas are much larger: Frank Church, Flattops, West Elk. More recently designated areas were negotiated more contentiously, and shrank in the process: Fossil Ridge, Buffalo Peaks. Both of these can be traversed in a day hike, neither has many spots from which all you can see or hear around you is still the same Wilderness. The logic became that a slice is better than no cake at all.

I prefer a week's worth of Wilderness.

Not really true.

After the initial passage of the WA in 1964...there was a Roadless Area Review and Evaluation conducted in 1972 (RARE I) and another in 1978 (RARE II).

The criteria for areas being considered was based on size (5,000 acre minimum) and having other wilderness attributes. IIRC, about 36 million acres were identified under RARE II that met the minimum requirements of
roadless designation and 5k acres in size, but only about 15 million were carved out under the preferred alternative of the FEIS.

I apologize if my numbers and dates aren't exactly right...been a long time since I took NR Policy in college.

Point being that there was never a criteria based on how long it took to travel across an area for designation, the primary factor was size, 5k acre minimum, and other wilderness attributes.

You are right that there was a lot of public comment on RARE I and II and also quite a lot of haggling over what part of the 36 million identified acres were going to be included in moving forward with making them designated wilderness and which were to be released into other uses. Also quite a lot of haggling over the WSA's, which have largely been managed as de facto wilderness.

Of course, also lots of haggling on moving forward with any new wilderness designations, a result of maybe a bit too soft of an approach from the Wilderness advocates in 1964 (IMO). I wasn't there, but from what I've read, largely between the lines, getting something passed that most could agree to, was better than arguing about it for the next 50 years. Wasn't my call, but I would have preferred a more aggressive approach to it initially. Thankful and grateful though, for those that made it happen via a herculean lift in '64.

 

[theleo91386]

For me it's a designation (an inconvenient one at that) pure and simple. I much prefer Road-less Backcountry with trails designated for foot and horse traffic only.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

If some hunters are simply finding the Wilderness Areas and going to them in place of scouting it will probably end with low success rate. It might seem like the best thing to do for people who cannot pre-scout, but nothing replaces actually putting boots on the ground. Especially not a boundary or designation.

 

[idahohikker]

For me it's a designation (an inconvenient one at that) pure and simple. I much prefer Road-less Backcountry with trails designated for foot and horse traffic only.

If the national forest has trailless and roadless areas and isn't flat, then motorized vehicle usage isn't a real issue and wilderness designation doesnt really change the experience. That definitely is something that varies depending on the area.

 

[theleo91386]

If the national forest has trailless and roadless areas and isn't flat, then motorized vehicle usage isn't a real issue and wilderness designation doesnt really change the experience. That definitely is something that varies depending on the area.

It all depends on what you do. I've been part of a BCHA group for over 20 years and I can tell you there's a significant change in the amount of trail work a person can achieve on one side of the Wilderness boundary vs the other.