Wilderness Character
The Wilderness Character toolbox is a ‘work in progress’ and represents information available to date on this subject. Contact us to suggest new materials for inclusion.
Introduction
This toolbox provides information for wilderness managers about wilderness character: what it is and why it’s important, how it’s used in wilderness stewardship, how changes to it can be monitored, and how threats to it can be mapped.
Understanding Wilderness Character
Our understanding of wilderness character as a unique resource that is fundamental to wilderness stewardship is relatively new, beginning in the early 2000s. Wilderness managers have long protected specific elements of wilderness (e.g., trails from becoming braided, campsites from becoming trashed) and they have long been concerned about “death by a thousand cuts” to wilderness. Wilderness character is a relatively simple way for mangers to understand how specific impacts fit into a broader context. Wilderness character also provides an effective way to communicate among agency staff and with the public about the goals and needs of wilderness stewardship.
Preserving wilderness character is a legal requirement
According to legal scholars, preserving wilderness character is the primary legal requirement from the 1964 Wilderness Act and all subsequent wilderness legislation to the agencies that administer wilderness. If wilderness character is not being preserved, then the agencies are not fulfilling their legal mandate in their administration of wilderness. “Wilderness character” occurs four times in the Wilderness Act (once in Section 2(a), twice in Section 4(b), and once in Section 4(d)(3)) and all four times the Wilderness Act states that wilderness character “shall” be preserved or protected. While the Wilderness Act clearly allows a variety of uses in wilderness, the administering agencies are still legally required to preserve the wilderness character of the area. In 1983, Congress reasserted the primacy of preserving wilderness character, stating “The overriding principle guiding management of all wilderness areas, regardless of which agency administers them, is the Wilderness Act (Section 4(b)) mandate to preserve their wilderness character.”
Resources on the legal requirement to preserve wilderness character (arranged chronologically):
- The Wilderness Act of 1964: its background and meaning. 1966. McCloskey, M. Oregon Law Review 45:288–321.
- House Report 98-40 from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, March 18, page 43. 1983. United States Congress.
- Managing the balance of nature: The legal framework of wilderness management. 1988. Rohlf, D. and Honnold, D.L. Ecology Law Quarterly 15:249–279.
- Changing views of what the wilderness system is all about. 1998. McCloskey, M. Denver University Law Review 76:369–381.
- Defining wilderness: From McCloskey to legislative, administrative and judicial paradigms. 1999. Ochs, M.J. Denver University Law Review 76:659–679.
- Untrammeled, wilderness character, and the challenges of wilderness preservation. 2002. Scott, D.W. Wild Earth 11(3/4):72–79.
- Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values. 4th edition. 2009. C.P. Dawson and J.C. Hendee. Fulcrum Publishing. Golden, CO.
- Wilderness and the courts. 2010. Appel, P.A. Stanford Environmental Law Journal 29:62-129.
- The legal meaning of wilderness character. 2015. Nagel, J.C. International Journal of Wilderness 21(3):10-13.
How wilderness character is defined
Wilderness character is not defined in the 1964 Wilderness Act so to provide stewardship guidance to fulfill the Wilderness Act’s legal mandate, an interagency team (Keeping It Wild 2, 2015) defined it: "Wilderness character is a holistic concept based on the interaction of (1) biophysical environments primarily free from modern human manipulation and impact, (2) personal experiences in natural environments generally free from the encumbrances and signs of modern society, and (3) symbolic meanings of humility, restraint, and interdependence that inspire human connection with nature. Taken together, these tangible and intangible values define wilderness character and distinguish wilderness from other all lands."
To operationalize this definition and link the concept of wilderness character directly to the statutory and tangible stewardship requirements of the 1964 Wilderness Act, the interagency team (Keeping It Wild 2, 2015) identified and defined five tangible “qualities” of wilderness character:
- Untrammeled—wilderness ecological systems are unhindered and free from intentional actions of modern human control or manipulation
- Natural—wilderness ecological systems are substantially free from the effects of modern civilization
- Undeveloped—wilderness is essentially without structures or installations, the use of motors, or mechanical transport
- Outstanding Opportunities for Solitude or Primitive and Unconfined Recreation—wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation
- Other Features of Value—wilderness may have unique ecological, geological, cultural or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value
These five qualities of wilderness character provide an organizational structure to help improve wilderness stewardship at all administrative levels, from on-the-ground management to national policy review. In addition to the five tangible qualities focused on stewardship, it is important to recognize a 6th intangible quality of wilderness character to account for the broad symbolic meanings of wilderness to society and the feelings of humility, restraint, and connection with something larger and outside of the self, as well as the inspiration and spirituality that individuals derive from their wilderness experiences.
This definition and all six qualities apply to every wilderness regardless of administering agency, size, geographic location, type of ecosystem, permitted uses, or any other attribute.
Resources on the definition of wilderness character:
- Keeping It Wild 2: An Updated Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System. 2015. Landres P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-340. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
Key points for understanding wilderness character and its stewardship
- Preserving wilderness character is a legal mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act
- Wilderness character is composed of five tangible qualities that for stewardship are equally important, interrelated, and together form a unique and holistic resource
- Stewardship decisions can preserve or degrade wilderness character
- Wilderness character and its qualities clarifies and improves communication among agency staff and with the public about wilderness and its stewardship
- Wilderness character includes an intangible quality that is typically outside the stewardship purview but is nonetheless an important and vital part of wilderness
Wilderness character narrative
A wilderness character narrative is an optional tool to help local staff understand and document how the tangible and intangible aspects of a wilderness are integrated into a holistic understanding of wilderness character that is unique to every wilderness. The narrative provides a touchstone for staff to refer back to when there is a question about how the wilderness is being managed to preserve wilderness character. Typically, this narrative is developed from discussion among local staff, the public, and tribes, and forms a foundational document for stewardship of the wilderness. This narrative has also been used as the starting point to identify key tangible elements that need to be monitored to ensure preservation of the area’s wilderness character. Wilderness character narratives have been developed for many NPS, FS, and FWS wildernesses.
Resources on the wilderness character narrative:
- Wilderness Character Narratives: What goes into it and how it’s used-2016
- Appendix 2 in Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/121797, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Forest Service Examples
- Fish and Wildlife Examples
- Wilderness Character narratives are included in Wilderness Character Monitoring Baseline reports. See examples in the Wilderness Character Monitoring section below.
- National Park Service Examples
Interagency collaboration for preserving wilderness character
The 1964 Wilderness Act established a single National Wilderness Preservation System, and the four wilderness managing agencies collaborate, coordinate, and communicate their stewardship goals and methods by participating on the Interagency Wilderness Policy Council, Interagency Wilderness Steering Committee, and Interagency Wilderness Character Monitoring Committee. These groups endorsed the definitions and strategies in Keeping It Wild 2 (2015) to foster and facilitate consistent nation-wide wilderness stewardship that preserves wilderness character. Preserving wilderness character is also the first priority identified in the Vision 2020 document presents interagency goals, objectives, and actions to guide collaborative stewardship of America’s National Wilderness Preservation System.
Resources on interagency collaboration for preserving wilderness character:
History of developing this understanding of wilderness character
The concepts and products presented in this toolbox were developed, reviewed, tested, and refined by wilderness staff across all administrative levels, from on-the-ground field staff to national wilderness program managers, in all four wilderness managing agencies. The effort to develop practical stewardship guidance on wilderness character began with the Forest Service in 2001; building on this initial effort, the other agencies developed their own agency-specific guidance. Throughout this time there was substantial communication among the agencies, allowing each agency to iteratively build on and refine their effort based on the experience of the other agencies. Building on these efforts of the individual agencies, the first interagency guidance was published in Keeping It Wild (2008). To date, about 300 agency staff worked directly on developing wilderness character stewardship guidance documents, these documents were reviewed by about 200 other agency staff and were pilot tested in 68 designated wildernesses and wilderness study areas, and over 1,000 public comments were received, discussed, and incorporated as appropriate. The history of these efforts up through 2015 is presented in Appendix 1 of Keeping It Wild 2 (2015).
Wilderness Fellows significantly aided field testing, reviewing, and refining the concept of wilderness character and it’s monitoring in the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service. From 2010 to 2017, 68 recent college graduates and others were selected from a large number of applicants to be Wilderness Fellows placed for 6-month periods with wilderness agency staff in field offices from Alaska to Florida.
Resources on the history of developing this understanding of wilderness character:
- Monitoring selected conditions related to wilderness character: A national framework. 2005. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-151. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
- Keeping it wild: An interagency strategy to monitor trends in wilderness character across the National Wilderness Preservation System. 2008. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-212. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Fort Collins, CO.
- Interagency Wilderness Fellows Initiative, Briefing, 2012
Other resources for understanding wilderness character
Agency Policy and Other Key Agency Documents
FWS
- Natural and Cultural Resources Management Part 910--Wilderness Stewardship
FS
NPS
- 2006 Wilderness Management Policies Chapter 6—Wilderness Preservation and Management, 6.3 Wilderness Resource Management, 6.3.1 General Policy
- Director’s Orders #41—Wilderness Stewardship
- Reference Manual #41—Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/121797, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Reference Manual #41—Wilderness Stewardship Plan Handbook: Planning to Preserve Wilderness Character. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/122875, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Reference Manual 41: Wilderness Stewardship: NPS Wilderness Character Monitoring Technical Guide (version 1.0). 2023. National Park Service.
Using Wilderness Character in Stewardship
Preserving wilderness character is a fundamental part of nearly all aspects of wilderness stewardship, including planning, evaluating potential impacts from proposed projects, and long-term monitoring to determine the effectiveness of stewardship decisions and the outcomes of agency policies. Mapping threats and potential impacts to wilderness character can be incorporated into all of the above activities. Planning to preserve wilderness character and evaluating potential impacts are presented here, while monitoring and mapping are presented in their own, separate major sections below.
General resources on using wilderness character in stewardship
- Using wilderness character to improve wilderness stewardship. 2012. Landres, P. et al. Park Science 28 (Winter 2011-2012):44-48.
- Integrating cultural resources and wilderness. 2012. Cowley, J. et al. Park Science 28 (Winter 2011-2012):29-33, 38.
Preserving wilderness character in stewardship planning
The Forest Service and National Park Service developed guidance documents for incorporating preserving wilderness character into agency planning efforts.
Resources on preserving wilderness character in stewardship planning:
- Applying the concept of wilderness character to National Forest planning, monitoring, and management. 2008. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-217WWW. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
- Wilderness Stewardship Plan Handbook: Planning to Preserve Wilderness Character. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/122875, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Chapter 3 in Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/121797, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Example of using wilderness character in planning: Death Valley National Park Wilderness and Backcountry Stewardship Plan, July 2013.
- Using wilderness character to improve wilderness stewardship. 2012. Landres, P. et al. Park Science 28 (Winter 2011-2012):44-48.
Evaluating potential impacts from proposed projects on wilderness character
The Forest Service and National Park Service documents referenced above for stewardship planning also discuss evaluating potential impacts to wilderness character from proposed projects. Understanding potential impacts to wilderness character is a fundamental part of the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center‘s Minimum Requirements Decision Guide and the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute’s published evaluation processes for two specific types of proposed projects: scientific research and ecological restoration. Documenting impacts to wilderness character was used as the organizational structure in several environmental impact statements that analyzed potential impacts from large-scale projects proposed within and adjacent to designated wilderness.
Resources on evaluating potential impacts to wilderness character from proposed projects:
- Minimum Requirements Decision Guide
- Evaluating proposals for scientific research:
- The challenge of doing science in wilderness: historical, legal, and policy context. 2003. Landres, P. et al. The George Wright Forum 20(3):42-49.
- A framework to evaluate proposals for science activities in wilderness. 2010. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Repport RMRS-GTR-234WWW. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
- Scientific study and enduring wilderness
- Scientific Activities and Research in NPS Wilderness: Guidelines for Wilderness Managers, NPS Wilderness Stewardship Division, 2011.
- Evaluating proposals for ecological restoration:
- Protected area stewardship in the Anthropocene: integrating science, law, and ethics to evaluate proposals for ecological restoration in wilderness. 2020. Landres, P. et al. Restoration Ecology doi: 10.1111/rec.13104
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Examples of Environmental Impact Statements evaluating impacts to wilderness character:
- Helicopter access to conduct Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) in wilderness, Record of Decision (ROD). 2008. USDA Forest Service, Alaska Regional Office, Juneau, AK.
- Final Environmental Impact Statement; Izembek National Wildlife Refuge Proposed Land Exchange/Road Corridor, Cold Bay. 2013. US Fish and Wildlife Service, FWS–R7–R–2012–N206; FXRS12650700000–134–FF07R06000. U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C.
- Angoon Airport Final Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f) Evaluation. 2016. Federal Aviation Administration. Department of Transportation, Alaska Region, Federal Aviation Administration, Anchorage, AK.
Wilderness Character Monitoring
Key to preserving wilderness character is monitoring how it changes over time. Only with robust long-term monitoring data can the effectiveness of on-the-ground stewardship and national policies be evaluated for fulfilling the legal mandate of the 1964 Wilderness Act. Keeping It Wild 2 (2015), recognizing that each of the four wilderness managing agencies has specific mandates, policies, and culture, provides a foundational strategy that each agency built on to develop their own agency-specific monitoring program. Basing individual agency monitoring programs on this interagency strategy allows compilation of the data across agencies, in turn allowing assessment of how wilderness character is changing across the entire National Wilderness Preservation System.
Agency monitoring guidelines and examples
In addition to the interagency strategy in Keeping It Wild 2 (2015), all four wilderness managing agencies have their own guidelines for wilderness character monitoring. The examples provided here were selected by Carhart staff to illustrate best practices.
- Keeping It Wild 2: An Updated Interagency Strategy to Monitor Trends in Wilderness Character Across the National Wilderness Preservation System. 2015. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-340. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
Bureau of Land Management
- Manual 6340—Management of Designated Wilderness Areas, 1.6.A.3. Monitor Wilderness Character
- Measuring Attributes of Wilderness Character: BLM Implementation Guide, Version 3.0, March 2024
Forest Service
- Wilderness character monitoring technical guide. 2020. Landres, P. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-426. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, CO.
- Forest Service Wilderness Character Monitoring Quick Start Guide, 2020
Fish and Wildlife Service
- Survey Protocol Framework for Monitoring Wilderness Character on National Wildlife Refuges, Version 1, February 2019
- Memo from Assistant Director establishing a Wilderness Character Monitoring Committee, November 2010
- National Wildlife Refuge System Wilderness Character Monitoring Fact Sheet, 2012
- Fish and Wildlife Service examples
National Park Service
- 2006 Wilderness Management Policies Chapter 6—Wilderness Preservation and Management, 6.3 Wilderness Resource Management, 6.3.7 Natural Resources Management
- Reference Manual #41—Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service: A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring. 2014. National Park Service, Publication Number WASO 909/121797, Denver Service Center, Lakewood, CO.
- Reference Manual 41: Wilderness Stewardship: NPS Wilderness Character Monitoring Technical Guide (version 1.0). 2023. National Park Service.
Wilderness character monitoring database
An interagency wilderness character monitoring database is used by agency staff, with permissioned access only, to enter, process, store, analyze, and create reports on trends in wilderness character for every wilderness.
Resources on the wilderness character monitoring database:
Mapping Threats to Wilderness Character
Mapping threats to wilderness character is based on the tangible qualities, indicators, and measures developed for wilderness character monitoring and presented in Keeping It Wild 2 (2015), but is different in one key way: the measures used in mapping must be spatially-explicit. The purpose for developing this map is to: 1) show where and what the condition of wilderness character is, 2) establish a baseline for assessing where and how wilderness character is changing over time, and 3) evaluate in a spatially explicit way potential impacts of proposed projects and potential outcomes of planning alternatives.
General resources on mapping threats to wilderness character
These resources provide an overview of the goals, cautions, and methods for mapping threats to wilderness character:
- Overview of mapping threats to wilderness character presentation
- Poster on mapping wilderness character in the National Park Service
- Briefing from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on mapping wilderness character
- Keeping it wild: mapping wilderness character in the United States. 2013. Carver, S. et al. Journal of Environmental Management 131:239-255.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in the National Wilderness Preservation System. 2018. Tricker, J., and Landres, P. Biological Conservation 227:243-251.
Resources for creating a map of threats to wilderness character
These resources provide tools for creating a map of threats to wilderness character:
- Technical guidelines for mapping threats to wilderness character
- Strategic questions (with potential answers) that drive the entire process of building a map of threats to wilderness character
- Commonly used measures and data sources collated from previous mapping efforts
- Spreadsheet used for selecting measures based on specific mapping criteria
- A hierarchical folder system for storing measure datasets
- Rasterize/Normalize Tool used in ArcGIS tool for converting vectors to rasters and normalizing values
- Flowchart, editable, to show the measures used in developing a map of threats to wilderness character that can be used in the Wilderness Character Mapping Report Template below
- Wilderness Character Mapping Report Template that can be used by any wilderness-managing agency to generate a site-specific wilderness character mapping report
Examples of maps of threats to wilderness character
The following are examples of maps of threats to wilderness character that were developed to support wilderness stewardship planning and monitoring:
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in Death Valley National Park. 2012. Tricker, J. et al. National Park Service Natural Resource Report, NPS/DEVA/NRR—2012/503, Fort Collins, CO.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. 2014. Tricker, J. et al. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SEKI/NRTR—2014/872, National Park Service, National Resource Stewardship and Science, Fort Collins, CO.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in Denali National Park and Preserve. 2016. Burrows, R. et al. Natural Resource Report NPS/DENA/NRR-2016/1223, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. 2017. Pace, K. et al. Natural Resource Report NPS/GAAR/NRR—2017/1444, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. 2017. Tricker, J. et al. General Technical Report RMRS-357. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Fort Collins, CO.
- Mapping threats to wilderness character in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. 2018. Tricker, J., et al. Natural Resource Report NPS /BLCA/NRR—2018/1664, National Park Service, Fort Collins, CO.