"Wilderness. It is a
place, an experience, a tradition, a remembering, and a future. It
is an ancient forest homeland, a living refuge for wildlife, a
sanctuary for endangered species and biodiversity. Wilderness is
the very archive of life. The essence of purity, it serves as a
guarantor for fresh water, clean air, and health. Vast and free,
wilderness provides a wild place to play, a space for solitude. It
offers the chance for renewal in Nature, reconnection with the
land, reunion with the spirit."
Ric Careless,
Executive Director, British Columbia Spaces for
Nature
The concept of wilderness in Western culture has
its roots in Judeo-Christian fundamentalism. Europeans brought this
concept with them to North America as they set out to tame the
wilderness of the western frontier. It was only after the wave of
settlement had reached the Pacific coast that the desire to protect
samples of wilderness was borne. Humans now controlled the land and
viewed themselves as separate from nature. This view of nature is
embodied in the United States Wilderness Act of 1964.
Indigenous peoples, however, whose cultures have
evolved within wild lands based on hunting and gathering, are at
home in these lands. Their life-styles and very existence have been
dependent upon a sustained harvest of resources from the land
without altering n ature. Indigenous peoples are at the top of
trophic relationships within arctic ecosystems and view themselves
as a part of nature. Although conservation of nature in the Arctic
is today a common goal of both the indigenous cultures and elements
of Western culture, increased understanding of culturally based
differences in perceptions of nature is necessary if mutually
acceptable conservation efforts are to succeed.
Paradoxically, the Western concept of wilderness
often includes homelands of indigenous peoples. The Gwich'in
people, Athabascan Indians living close to the northern limit of
forests in northwestern Canada and adjacent Alaska, have a saying
that "to understand our way you must stop for a moment and feel the
rhythm of the land. For we are part of it". Before contact with
Western culture the Gwich'in knew of the caribou only in fall and
winter, when they were present in their homeland. When the caribou
left their wintering grounds in spring on their migration north to
the calving grounds, they left the land of the Gwich'in. The
calving grounds were in the land of the Inuit, the people who lived
at the edge of the sea. The Caribou Cree of the northern c
oniferous forests of central Canada have had a similar relation to
caribou. They knew that the caribou were in the north and absent
from their lands in summer, to return again in fall and winter, but
not always. Wintering areas varied from year to year as well as the
migration routes followed. They spoke of the caribou as mystical
and often unpredictable creatures, even though their culture had
evolved largely in relation to caribou, their existence was
dependent upon them, and they had in tricate knowledge of the
winter ecology of caribou. Nevertheless, they had a saying that "no
one knows the way of the winds and the caribou" .
In December of 1989,
WILD
distributed a four-page questionnaire about wilderness to the
2,000 environmental and native groups, research institutes and
government offices on its mailing list. Although the mailing list
included groups form every country in the world, the almost 200
responses (10 percent) were weighted heavily in favor of North
America and Europe (almost 50 percent of responses).
Sixty-two percent of respondents (primarily from
Australia, North America and Europe) confirmed that they use the
word wilderness. Almost one-half of the respondents who chose other
words (e.g., "nature", "primary or virgin forest", "pristine" area)
defined these words using language identical to that given for the
word wilderness. Consistent characteristics for all terms
were:
- natural
ecological processes intact-89%
-
free-ranging populations of indigenous wildlife-84%
-
indigenous vegetation intact-74%
-
naturally self-sustaining - 71%
Variations in definitions were most pronounced in
regards to wilderness being a homeland for traditional and
indigenous peoples. Of those who use the word wilderness, 50
percent consider it a native peoples' homeland. Of those who use
other terms, only 35 percent consider their term as a people's
homeland.
Interestingly, WILD has been cautioned about the
use of the word wilderness--that its meaning might imply the lack
of human occupance and use. Yet our survey showed that people using
the word wilderness had a greater tolerance for human activity,
including the presence of roads and industrial use, than those who
chose to use other words such as "nature" or "primary
forest."
For the purposes of its mapping project, WILD has
chosen to define wilderness similarly to our questionnaire
respondents: An ecological unit where natural processes are largely
undisturbed and which may be used by a community or communities of
people in a sustainable way, so long as it still largely maintains
its natural character.
WILD is using the terms "natural areas" and
"natural ecosystems" interchangeably with the word
"wilderness."