The notion of wildness as a concept that is essentially intractable to definition has profound linguistic and ethical implications for wilderness preservation and environmental education. A survey of the ways in which wilderness value is expressed through language reveals much confusion and repression regarding our understanding of the autonomy of nature. By framing discussions of wilderness through fact-driven language games, the value of the wild autonomy in nature becomes ineffable. In removing wildness from the discourse on wilderness we convert wilderness value from an intrinsic value into a distorted instrumental value. If we want to teach others that wilderness value means something more than a recreational, scientific, or economic opportunity, we need to include other ways of articulating this value in our education programs. Through linking the wildness of natural systems with the wild forms in human language games, I examine the conceptual freedom required for valuing autonomy in nature. The focus on what is required of language in expressing the intrinsic value of wilderness reveals that wilderness preservation and environmental education need complementary approaches to the current science-based frameworks, such as those used by the National Park Service. The disciplines of poetry, literature, ethics, and aesthetics offer alternative language games that allow for a more fluid, imaginative, and open-ended understanding of the autonomy of nature, and a means for articulating the value of this wildness that implies an ethical position of humility.

Over the last thirty years the meaning of the word 'wilderness' has changed in Australia, and it has come under sustained attack on philosophical, cultural, political and ‘justice’ grounds. This thesis investigates the 'Wilderness Knot’ – the confusion and tangled meanings around ‘wilderness’. In the literature this ‘knot’ is comprised of at least five strands; philosophical, political, cultural, justice and exploitation. Normally people focus only on the last of these strands, its economic exploitation. The methodology is qualitative, involving participatory action research (PAR) and hermeneutic phenomenology. The PAR was done with the Blue Mountains Wilderness Network near Sydney, which investigated the confusion around ‘wilderness’, and sought to reduce this by entering into dialogue with supporters, critics and community members interested in wilderness issues, notably the local Aboriginal Traditional Owners (TOs). Eleven in-depth interviews with scholars (including critics) of wilderness were carried out to feed into this PAR. The hermeneutic phenomenology made use of the wilderness journals of five of the Network, and sought to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of wilderness itself, and also the lived experience of encountering the wilderness knot. The PAR provided many insights into the knot, especially regarding the need for dialogue to reduce the confusion. It demonstrated the delicacy needed to gain meaningful dialogue over an issue which raises real passions about social and environmental justice. It took three years to develop meaningful dialogue between TOs and conservationists. The spectra of issues entangled in ‘the land’ and ‘wilderness’ are presented textually and diagrammatically, as are the ways forward to untangle meanings and reduce confusion. The political naivety of academia is discussed in regard to ‘wilderness as lanai’ (considering increasing threats). There is a need for greater rigour in identifying which meaning of ‘wilderness’ is actually being referred to. There is also merit in promoting recognition that ‘wilderness’ is in fact a tribute to past indigenous land practices, not a disregard of indigenous history. The idea of shared ‘custodianship’ or stewardship is suggested as a way forward. The wilderness knot can indeed be loosened, as this thesis demonstrates. However, it will be an ongoing project for all those involved. The art to keeping ‘wilderness as lanai’ is not just ‘eternal vigilance’ it is an eternal ongoing dialogue about its meaning and values. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 1992. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-170). Also available on the World Wide Web.

The San Gorgonio Wilderness in Southern California is surrounded on three sides by roads, and receives thousands of visitors each year. Its character as a wilderness is threatened by the large populations of people nearby, as well as the humans who venture into its boundaries. This project outlines the history of human presence in the Wilderness, and describes the impact of that presence. There is a discussion of attempts by various organizations to mitigate that impact, and deal with the increasing numbers of visitors. The project concludes with predictions and suggestions for the future of the San Gorgonio Wilderness.

This paper examines formal wilderness designation and is presented in two parts. The first section offers a general classification and comprehensive review of the benefit and cost variables associated with wilderness designation and management. The second section investigates recreation use, which society has historically perceived to be the highest valued element in the network of wilderness benefits. Variables associated with the benefits of wilderness designation are presented under three major categories: 1) naturalness preservation, 2) solitude or primitive and unconfined types of recreation, and 3) special features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historic value. Costs attributed to wilderness designation are presented under two major categories: 1) administration/general management costs and 2) opportunity costs. The second section of this thesis establishes growth rate comparisons of wilderness and non-wilderness recreation use on United States Forest Service lands in Utah, the Intermountain Region, and the overall national Forest Service system from 1967 to 1986. The High Uintas Wilderness area was also analyzed for its use over the same twenty-year period. Data used to measure recreational use at these levels was obtained from United States Forest Service Recreation Information Management records and are measured in recreational visitor days. Growth rate comparisons are measured with respect to recreation use in general terms as well as on a per acre basis at all levels examined. Because of general trend discrepancies in recreation use over the twenty-year study period, growth rate estimates of recreation use at all levels are also measured with respect to two separate time periods--1967 to 1976 and 1977 to 1986. This analysis shows that non-wilderness/ primitive recreation use per acre increased during the last decade at all levels examined, whereas wilderness/primitive .recreation use per acre showed marked declines during the same period. Growth rate estimates established on a per acre basis provide a general indication of the marginal value of wilderness and non-wilderness recreation use. This thesis shows that, with respect to recreation use, marginal utility has diminished in designated wilderness since 1977. In contrast, this research also infers that the marginal value for non-wilderness recreation use has increased. These findings suggest that, from a recreation perspective, adding wilderness areas to the National Wilderness Predervation System is unwarranted.

The purpose of this research was to: 1) measure the importance Cohutta Wilderness users place upon potential indicators of preferred wilderness experiences, 2) identify the extent to which norm, or standards, exist among these users for a variety of social indicators of the wilderness experience, and 3) to compare these characteristics among a number of different subgroups in order to assess any differences which may exist among users. Social judgment theory was used in the study to develop a more reliable and useful method for achieving these objectives. Wilderness users tended to place high levels of importance on most of the indicators studied. However, the greatest importance was placed upon a number of the physical/ecological indicators. Subgroups of wilderness users classified according to wilderness involvement, place attachment, and length of stay showed the most significant differences in importance evaluations. Most of the users sampled were willing to provide personal norms, but these norms were often unstable over time. Users tended to become more restrictive concerning those conditions they found acceptable. Measures of consensus suggested two different conclusions. Wilderness user subgroups tended to have greater median variation than was the case for the approach using percent agreement for specific encounter norm levels. When users were broken down into subgroups, the wilderness involvement measure appeared to explain the most differences in norms regarding the acceptability of wilderness conditions. / Master of Science

Wilderness has been a central value in the development of the American environmental tradition and has been established in our laws and institutions, first in the National Park System and then more extensively through the Wilderness Act. Some have suggested that valuing wilderness, understood as nature without people or culture, is a peculiarly modern sentiment and that it is internally inconsistent, pathological, and a hindrance to solving real environmental problems. Contrary to this approach, I defend a richer conception of wilderness that undermines each of these claims. Beginning with an etymology of wilderness and a history of the development of wilderness appreciation, I argue that wilderness is not essentially an absence of people or culture but the flourishing of natural purposes: land characterized by untamed animals and plants in untamed relations. This interpretation of wilderness allows for a more cogent reading of the wilderness preservation tradition and the Wilderness Act. It also elucidates philosophical difficulties surrounding the practices of wilderness management and ecological restoration.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Lookouts follows Matt and Joann, two fire tower lookouts for the United States Forest Service, as they discuss their happiness living in seclusion as well as the decline of fire towers due to technological advances.