Wilderness and Roadless Areas

Wilderness, as defined by Section 2 (c) of the 1964 Wilderness Act, is a congressionally designated area of undeveloped federal land which appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, has not had permanent improvements or human habitation, possesses outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation, and is protected and managed to allow natural ecological processes to operate freely (FSH 1909.12, Chpt. 7, item 7.1) (SAMAB 1996).

Wilderness areas are not the only large tracts of natural appearing forest land in the southern Appalachians.  Roadless areas, defined as natural areas with no more than 0.5 mile of improved road for each 1,000 acres, identify forests where signs of prior human activity are disappearing and the area is regaining a natural appearance.  The management activities allowed on wilderness and roadless areas differ in both their type and intensity (SAMAB 1996).

Wilderness and roadless areas provide humans with both direct and indirect benefits. Most of these benefits derive from the fact that roadless and wilderness areas provide the majority of undisturbed forest patches within an otherwise disturbed landscape.  For species, processes, functions, and human values that depend on undisturbed forests, wilderness and roadless areas are a vital component of the southern Appalachian region. These many uses, services, and benefits of wilderness have either an economic or intrinsic value, albeit some of these values are more difficult to measure than others.

In its survey of the extent and location of wilderness and roadless areas, the southern Appalachian Assessment reported that wilderness and roadless acres account for 4 percent of all land in the southern Appalachians.  How much wilderness is enough?  There is little agreement on this issue.  Some claim we have already "locked up" enough land in the US, while others argue that additional wildland protection is necessary.

Although forests within the National Wilderness Preservation system are among the most well-protected land areas in the United States, these areas are not immune to human threats.  Recent surveys have revealed a wide variety of internal and external threats to wilderness.