Trooping fairies, trolls, and talking tigers: the influence of traditional wilderness archetypes on current land use patterns

Broadly defined, “wilderness” encompasses all areas outside the cultural sphere, i.e., not under direct, intensive, and purposeful human control and maintenance. Because of the perceived dangers of wilderness, people are unlikely to settle deeply in wild areas, especially in their archetypical wilderness. Topographically-defined wilderness archetypes (e.g., mountains) are likely more resistant to development than the more easily obliterated land cover-defined wilderness archetypes (e.g., forests), which should lead to divergent landscape patterns. Fairytales and the names of protected areas from Ireland, Germany, and Korea were examined for evidence of wilderness archetypes. Germany and Korea (but not Ireland) exhibited archetypes (forest and mountain, respectively). The land use patterns with respect to ruggedness and relative elevation in Germany and Korea were compared with predictions based on archetype. Korea had a significantly more conservative and stricter decision rule with regards to development in rugged areas and more predictable elevational transitions from civilization to wilderness, consistent with a reluctance to develop a mountain wilderness archetype. Korean cities had similar patterns to all of Korea, while non-East Asian cities hemmed in by mountains (Germany has none) were variable but similar to Germany, implying that the observed differences are cultural not agricultural. These results indicate the important, but largely unrecognized, influence cultural details have on land use patterns and by extension conservation challenges, opportunities, and priorities. Specifically, wilderness archetypes are likely overrepresented in protected and undeveloped areas. Furthermore, wilderness archetype communities (particularly those topographically defined) likely experience less fragmentation, more restricted development, and less drastic anthropogenic disturbance.