By April Reese


University of Georgia

Whether you spend every weekend in a tent or have never pitched
one in your life, a recent study conducted by a University of
Georgia and U.S. Forest Service research team indicates 80
percent of the public is glad to know wilderness land is out
there, whether they use it not.

Almost 40 years ago, Congress passed the Wilderness Act, which
restricted grazing, mining, timber cutting and mechanized
vehicles in protected areas. It began with 9.1 million acres.
Now, 4.4 percent of the continental United States is protected as
wilderness land. Alaska contains about 60 percent of the total
protected land areas in the United States.

The act defines wilderness land 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.”

Georgia has 485,000 acres protected under the National Wilderness
Preservation System. The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is
the largest of these areas, encompassing 396,000 acres of the
438,000-acre swamp.

Valuation System

John Bergstrom, an economist with UGA’s College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, and U.S. Forest Service research
colleagues Ken Cordell and Michael Bowker have been conducting a
national study to determine how people view and value wilderness
areas.

“Findings indicate broad support for the concept of wilderness,
based mostly on the ecological, environmental quality and non-use
values respondents believe wildland protection provides,”
Bergstrom said.

In a survey led by the US Forest Service in collaboration
with
than 1,900 people in the United States over age 15 were asked
about their awareness of the National Wilderness Preservation
System, adequacy of the amount of wilderness protected and the
importance of various benefits or values from wilderness
protection.

Research Results

Almost half of those surveyed, 44.4 percent, reported they knew
of the existence of the NWPS. When asked if they thought the
amount of protected land was adequate, 55.7 percent said ‘No.’
The majority of these respondents were 55 years of age or
younger. This could mean good things for the system in the
future, said Bergstrom.

Of the 13 non-use and use wilderness values, protecting water
quality was ranked as the most important value with 78.9 percent
of those surveyed ranking it “very important.” More than 70
percent of the respondents consider protecting wildlife habitat,
protecting air quality, protecting wilderness for future
generations and protecting endangered species to be either “very
or extremely important.”

The least important factor to those surveyed was the amount of
income generated for the tourist industry. Scientific study,
recreational opportunities and providing spiritual inspiration
also received low marks in the survey, even though close to half
of those surveyed ranked these values as “very or extremely
important.”

The research survey found that across income, education,
lifestyle, gender, race, employment status and age groups, there
were no statistical differences in the way people assign values
to wilderness. Protection of wilderness seems to be widely
supported across people with very different livelihoods and
lifestyles.

Participation in Wilderness Activities

Participation in wilderness activities was also studied.

The survey showed that age and sex were significant suggesting
young people and women were more likely to visit wilderness
areas. Race was also statistically significant suggesting white
Americans are 53 percent more likely to visit wilderness areas or
other primitive areas.