An Overview of America's National Wilderness Preservation System

The original perception of wilderness in America was one of a barrier or threat to early settlers that must be conquered. The establishment of preserves such as Yellowstone National Park in 1872 helped set a precedent for the federal government to allocate lands for non-consumptive purposes (Dawson and Hendee 2009). Later, federal land management agencies, such as the Forest Service (FS) and the National Park Service (NPS), established administrative guidelines for the preservation of wild lands, but pressure for development continued to increase with plans for more timber sales, mines, roads, campgrounds, and tourist hotels to meet rising demand. During this same period, conservationists and some politicians saw the need for permanent legislation to protect wild lands, and in 1956 the first wilderness bill was introduced to Congress. Eight years later in 1964, after much debate and many rewrites of the original bill, the Wilderness Act was passed and signed into law (Scott 2004).