The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Wilderness Act: The Next Chapter in Wilderness Designation, Politics, and Management

Abstract

In commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Wilderness Act, we examine what might be the next chapter in wilderness politics, designation, and management. In Parts I and II of the Article, we review the base of wilderness-eligible lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. These two parts evaluate inventoried roadless areas, lands with wilderness characteristics, wilderness study areas, and recommended wilderness areas. These are the lands from which future wilderness and other protected land designations may come, and we analyze the interim management measures, planning processes, and politics that determine whether or not these lands will be protected in the future. In Part III, we examine three interrelated factors that will largely shape future wilderness politics: extreme political polarization, the use of collaboration, and increasing demands for the manipulation of wilderness areas. Congressional polarization may push wilderness politics onto different political pathways, including action by the executive branch aimed at protecting wilderness-eligible lands. Outside of Congress, collaboration will also continue to shape wilderness politics in the future, with questions focused on the scope and degree of compromise in wilderness legislation. There will also be increasing demands to control and manipulate wilderness in the future. These three factors will complicate the politics surrounding future wilderness designations and influence how these lands are managed in the future. Yet despite these challenges, the reasons for adding to the Wilderness Preservation System are stronger in 2014 than they were fifty years ago.