Mapping wilderness character in Death Valley National Park

Abstract

The 1964 Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) established the National Wilderness Preservation System "for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character" (Section 2a). In congressional testimony clarifying the intent of wilderness designation, Zahniser (1962) said, "The purpose of the Wilderness Act is to preserve the wilderness character of the areas to be included in the wilderness system, not to establish any particular use" (United States Congress 1983), and legal scholars (Rohlf and Honnold 1988, McCloskey 1999) subsequently confirmed that preserving wilderness character is the Act's primary legal mandate. Further, the policies of all four agencies that manage wilderness state that they are to preserve wilderness character in all areas designated as wilderness. For the purpose of wilderness stewardship, a tangible definition of wilderness character was developed (Landres et al. 2005, Landres et al. 2008).

Citation

Tricker, James; Landres, Peter; Dingman, Sandee; Callagan, Charlie; Stark, John; Bonstead, Leah; Fuhrmann, Kelly; Carver, Steve. 2012. Mapping wilderness character in Death Valley National Park. Natural Resource Report NPS/DEVA/NRR-2012/503. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science. 82 p.