How often have you gone to hang a picture, a painting, or even a poster to your wall? I would wager that in most cases, maybe you just eye-balled it. Usually, it ends up pretty near square. What if it's the most prominently displayed focal point of the home? You know, it's something we put above the hearth. Maybe it's a family portrait, maybe it's a flat screen television, maybe it's that monster buck, bull elk, or trout you harvested. The point is that if it’s the focal point of the den, if it's the thing that draws our attention the most, we really want to have it squared up.
We'd like to be more confident in how true it is before we turn to some other chore. We might want to get our hands on a level. We may even whip out a laser level to get it ultra precise. Even if we don't use a tool, we'll often ask someone else to have a look. "Does this look all right to you?"
What are the focal points in Glacier National Park. What gets people's attention? It's the country. It's the marvelous mountains. It's the gorgeous valleys. It's more than scenery too. It's habitat. It can even be human habitat for a while. Those are the focal points. And those focal points become memories attached to this place. And the memories become stories we keep sharing. Just like the story we might associate with whatever gathers attention around the hearth.
When I hear people talk about a place I've been that I feel like I know first hand, often I'll say something like, yeah, western Montana, that's some real pretty country. And in Glacier, mostly it's backcountry.
So let's catch up with ourselves and get re-oriented. When something is special to us, when something is the focal piece of our world, we want to be sure we know how it stands. Well, over 90 percent of Glacier has been studied, proposed, and recommended as wilderness. But, what is it's standing? How would we know? What we'd like to know is, what is the character of that wilderness. That's where I come in with the wilderness character framework this summer.
Just like that focal piece in our den, wilderness character is something we'd like to gauge more precisely than asking, how's it hanging. Don't get me wrong, the rangers here have been doing really good work monitoring the recreation ecology conditions on the ground. However, wilderness envelopes more than recreation. And, how do those extras square up to measuring wilderness character? We need a tool. The wilderness character framework is that tool. By unpacking the baggage that can come with wilderness values, the "eye of the beholder issues" –the wilderness character framework helps us make sense of how decisions in Glacier might degrade or enhance wilderness character.
So… how does wilderness character get unpacked? There are five qualities* that outline wilderness character. They are:
Untrammeled—Wilderness is essentially unhindered and free from the actions of modern human control or manipulation. This quality is influenced by any activity or action that controls or manipulates the components or processes of ecological systems inside wilderness. It is supported or preserved when such management actions are not taken. It is degraded when such management actions are taken, even when these actions are intended to protect resources, such as spraying herbicides to eradicate or control non-indigenous species, or reduce fuels accumulated from decades of fire exclusion.
Natural—Wilderness ecological systems are substantially free from the effects of modern civilization. This quality is preserved or improved, for example, by controlling or removing non-indigenous species or restoring ecological processes. This quality is degraded, for example, by the loss of indigenous species, occurrence of non-indigenous species, alteration of ecological processes such as water flow or fire regimes, effects of climate change, and many other factors.
Undeveloped—Wilderness retains its primeval character and influence, and is essentially without permanent improvement or modern human occupation. This quality is influenced by what are commonly called the “Section 4(c) prohibited uses,” which are the presence of modern structures, installations, habitations, and the use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment, or mechanical transport. This quality is preserved or improved by the removal of structures and refraining from these prohibited uses. It is degraded by the presence of non-recreational structures and by prohibited uses, whether by the agency for administrative purposes, by others authorized by the agency, or when uses are unauthorized.
Solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation—Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation. This quality is primarily about the visitor wilderness experience and is influenced by settings that affect these opportunities. This quality is preserved or improved by management actions that reduce visitor encounters, signs of modern civilization inside the wilderness, agency-provided recreation facilities, and management restrictions on visitor behavior. In contrast, this quality is degraded by management actions that increase these.
Other Features— In many cases, a park may find the above four qualities do not fully express the values and features found in its wilderness areas. The NPS has defined a fifth quality, Other features, based on the last clause of Section 2(c) of the Wilderness Act which states that a wilderness “may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.” This fifth quality may be used by a park to capture elements that aren’t included in the other four qualities. Unlike the preceding four qualities that apply throughout every wilderness, this fifth quality is unique to an individual wilderness based on the features that are inside that wilderness. These features typically occur only in specific locations within a wilderness and include cultural resources, paleontological localities, or any feature not generally under the other four qualities that has scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. In addition, National Natural Landmark sites and features may confer significant scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value. While many different types of features could be included, the intent is to include those that are only significant or integral to the park and wilderness.
*Definitions from Keeping It Wild in the National Park Service.
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| Bowman Lake, Glacier National Park |
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