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Wilderness

What is wilderness?In 1964, the United States Congress passed the Wilderness Act. Its purpose was to establish a national wilderness preservation system. These preserved areas will not be permanently occupied or modified by humans. A wilderness was defined as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain... an area of underdeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature...; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value."

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