“This island of Earth of ours is finite in resources, including wilderness- particularly wilderness. The dwindling worldwide reservoir of wild lands must be the concern of everyone, but especially of those of us who have been privileged to experience wildness, and thus learn its value to the individual human soul and to the spirit of mankind.”
― David Brower
It's an interesting time to be a Wilderness worker. While funding is on ongoing issue and the decline of "Wilderness Manager" as a stand alone position within most districts of the Forest Service has made career progression stagnant for many, there is simultaneously and somewhat paradoxically progress being made in the world of Wilderness Management. For years Wilderness managers have had minimal direction for protocols and expectations in regards to how to manage their Wilderness. That has changed recently with the arrival of the "Wilderness Stewardship Performance Measures." These are elements that have been picked as ways to direct Wilderness Management. Back in 2005 the Chief of the Forest Service announced a "10 year Wilderness Stewardship Challenge" which was direction to guide Forest Service Wilderness areas to reach a certain level of stewardship by 2014 which was the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. There were 10 elements and each element had different deliverables to acquire up to 10 points each and the goal was to have all Wilderness score at least 60 points before the 50th anniversary Using feedback from the 10 year challenge the Forest Service adapted a new scoring system which is our current "Wilderness Stewardship Performance Measures." Instead of 10 mandatory elements there are now 4 mandatory elements and additionally each Wilderness area picked at least 6 elective elements (out of 16 options) that made sense for their Wilderness. The elements and requested deliverables to acquire points for them are explained in this guidebook. They are as follows (highlighted denotes mandatory element):
- Invasive Species
- Air Quality Values
- Natural Role of Fire
- Water
- Fish and Wildlife
- Plants
- Recreation Sites
- Trails
- Non-Compliant Infrastructure
- Motorized Equipment / Mechanical Transport Use Authorizations
- Agency Management Actions
- Opportunities for Solitude
- Primitive and Unconfined Recreation
- Cultural Resources
- Livestock Grazing
- Outfitters and Guides
- Other Special Provisions (e.g., dams, airstrips, mines)
- Workforce Capacity
- Education
- Wilderness Character Baseline
Here in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness we have selected:
- Agency Management Actions
- Workforce Capacity
- Education
- Wilderness Character Baseline
- Invasive Species
- Natural Role of Fire
- Recreation Sites
- Trails
- Opportunities for Solitude
- Primitive and Unconfined Recreation
So now we have more specific guidance on work, data collection and organization methods the agency expects from Wilderness areas. Each element is fairly complicated in what is requested of the Wilderness areas by the Forest Service so I'll be doing separate blog entries that go over elements individually and what my experience with them are.
