Creating A Centralized Collection Of Information About Our Nation's Wilderness

The wilderness and forests need to be saved for the future generations, and a sort of “wilderness bank” needs to be formed in order to keep the reality of the wilderness alive and keep mankind grounded to the earth.

One of America’s greatest conservation achievements is the Wilderness Act of 1964. Fifty-two years later, this act has a legacy to withhold. A legacy that meant something in 1964 and remains the same today: to protect unspoiled land. Even though, through this act millions of acres have been conserved, the key word is continue. That is why America should pass laws to preserve the wilderness before developers spoil them.

“Timber!” is a word that engulfed Woodrow Wilson in fear, as a loving, determined environmentalist he was the driving force behind the Organic Act of 1916. Wilson’s Organic Act set grounds for the founding of the National Park Service, which sets and enforces regulations that protect National Parks. Woodrow Wilson’s determination, conveyed by his adamant support for the Organic Act, was evident throughout Wilson’s lifetime. Wilson realized how important it was to protect America’s land and took action to protect it. Through the Organic Act, Wilson was able to save the current thirty-five national parks and land for hundreds of future national parks throughout the United States. The founding of the National Park Service was a major part of Wilson’s plan to preserve and protect America 's natural land. Wilson’s idea of preservation of the United States’ land has lived throughout the years through the National Park Service. The National Park Service today continues with the same responsibilities along with a multifarious collection of others. The actions taken in the Organic Act of 1916 have helped eternalize the ideas proposed by President Wilson by preserving the scarce remaining natural land of America.

“The human history of the Yellowstone region goes back more than 11,000 years. From then until to the very recent past, many groups of Native Americans used the park as their homes, hunting grounds, and transportation routes. These traditional uses of Yellowstone lands continued until a little over 200 years ago when the first people of European descent found their way into the park. In 1872 a country that had not yet seen its first centennial, established Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. A new concept was born and with it a new way for people to preserve and protect

Growing up I was fortunate to live five miles from the main entrance to the largest subtropical, sawgrass prairie in North America, Everglades National Park. For years, the Everglades revealed its natural treasures as my family and I enjoyed hours of canoeing, hiking, fishing, and bird watching within the park. I had the privilege to attend an elementary school that established a partnership with the Everglades Environmental Center. In fact, in 4th grade I was one of twenty-five students selected to go camping five nights at the Loop Road Interpretive Center, forty miles deep in the glades. My camping experience provided an invaluable lesson about always being honest and the importance of obeying the national park regulations.

Congress must reform current legislation to restrict bioprospecting on federal land, and regulate the amount of monetary gain that landholders can receive from bioprospecting companies that use their resources. The National Park Service is a smaller government agency within the Department of Agriculture. This is the agency that is in dire need of legislation to restrict bioprospecting, and manage the profit margin that national parks can receive from allowing bioprospecting companies to use their resources.

"ARTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE  PART OF THE SOLUTION. " US Fed News Service, Including US State News [Washington, D.C.] 30 May 2006, Research Library. ProQuest. 15 Nov. 2007 <

The National Park Service (NPS) plays a gargantuan role in the preservation of many national parks, monuments, and historical sites. But most recently the government proposed significant budget cuts to the NPS, which will reduce financial support for preserving national parks, monuments, historical sites, and the programs that teach kids about nature and history. Keeping these national parks and monuments busy and well­funded is imperative because without those Americans will be losing an important historical insight of the initiation that the country was built on. Although, some may debate that the government should not fund the NPS because it takes control away from the locals, it is important that NPS is funded because it will ensure the

During the “backpacking boom” of the 1970s when there was a growing understanding about the natural environment beginning to be consumed at what had appeared to be an alarming rate, many groups of people began to take on the trail for long periods of time. (Cosmo) Trails that were previously only visited by few people because very well known locations. During this time, there was very little maintainance of the trails and even less education of visitors. People were hiking merely to take a break from the world around them. “What was once an experience where solitude was virtually guaranteed, became more and more a social event as more and more of us tried to.” (Cosmo) After some time, many hikers and trail managers grew concerned about the future of the trail and began trying to accommodate the growing number of hikers, while also protecting the Trails natural environment. After starting to upgrade popular campsites and trails to make them more durable, most hikers began to gain knowledge about how to take care of the trails while enjoying them. “Since the 1980’s the AT has been managed so that ‘Hiker regulations will be kept as unrestrictive as possible, and should be developed only to the extent they are proven necessary to protect the physical trail, its environment, and the interests of adjacent landowners.’ (from the Appalachian Trail Comprehensive Plan, 1981)”

Theodore Roosevelt created the National Parks Service in hopes of preserving natural land for future generations. The National Parks Service provides services including land management, fire control, animal populations, air quality, water quality, hiking trails, and campsites.

The national parks of the United States are a part of the few remaining regions in the country where nature is relatively untouched and natural beauty can be observed. For over a century, national parks been popular vacation destinations for citizens and international tourists alike. Regulation and conservation of these areas is necessary to allow for continued visitation and enjoyment. The National Parks Service of the Department of the Interior was created with The National Park Service Organic Act (“The Organic Act”) to maintain the nation’s parks and ensure preservation of the land while encouraging use by the general public. Whether or not conservation and recreational use are independent of each has been argued within the government as well as among the general public for decades. Vague language used by The Organic Act’s authors has allowed for manipulation of the phrasing of the fundamental mission statement of the National Park Service to support or oppose a variety of decisions that will environmentally impact the parks. Personal opinions and conflicting priorities lead to much ambiguity in the long-term implementation of the National Park Service Organic Act.

The work that the National Parks Service has done is remarkable. It as been successful in protecting millions of square miles of forest land. Stephen Mather was a successful businessman who earned his money in other businesses and then transferred his genius to the business of stopping deforestation. His restless nature was a well known aspect of his personality and that was something that was desperately needed in the national parks service

In the history of the U.S. Forest Service, landscape architects have shaped conservation policies, but have often been unsung heroes, writers, visionaries and leaders. For instance, Arthur H. Carhart was the first U.S. Forest Service landscape architect and the first to realize the significance of conservation. From 1919 to 1923, Carhart created the recreational facilities of national forests in six states, from Superior Forest on Wisconsin’s Lake Superior to the San Isabel in southern Colorado. Furthermore, Carhart’s writings during his employment with the U.S. Forest Service are the standing pillars for the wilderness and recreation policies that exist today. Looking further back, in 1892 the father of landscape architecture - Frederick Law

The internet boom of the late nineteen-ninnies and the early two-thousands sparked creativity across the board for organizations to spread their message, three of these organizations resided in Missoula Montana. The University of Montana's(U of M) Wilderness Institute, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Institute, and the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center thought to create a website that would spawn a cyberculture of wilderness out of disparate communities to help protect the future of primitive lands in the modern age. This website was to be called the Wilderness Information Network, which in short would overcome barriers of geography, finances, and bureaucracy

The website for the national and state park systems helps to enlighten the public on the subject of impending changes in policy and regulations, as well as new developments in different parks. Due to this, the parks and recreation districts judge that individuals and families will be more agreeable to the idea of traveling to parks in different states because of the easy accessibility of directions and information about the parks. Owing to the latest rise in interest of campgrounds and recreation areas, there has been an increase in funds. This new revenue has made possible the purchase of more parkland throughout the United States. Without prevailing use of the Internet, this most likely would not have been possible. The East Bay Park District has been able to purchase 1,476 of land. This is the single largest acquisition that the Park has made in over twenty years. The York Center Park District been able to purchase and protect a 20-acre area in the last five years. This is the largest area they manage. With the acquisition of supplementary parkland, it is more likely that this land will continue in its natural condition and not be converted into an urbanized region.