Wilderness Management

Excerpt from the Preface: This book is the first text and reference that specifically addresses the issues and problems of wilderness management. The material is organized into six sections, each intended to present a comprehensive summary and synthesis of pertinent information. The book's 16 chapters bring together both previously published as well as new information and viewpoints pertaining to wilderness management—writing which includes philosophy and concepts research data, and management experience in Federal agencies. Specifically, our objectives include the following: 1. To sensitize readers to pressing wilderness management issues and the implications of alternative methods of dealing with them. 2. To distinguish issues of wilderness management from issues of wilderness allocation and management of related lands, and to describe their important interrelationships. 3. To introduce readers to pertinent literature and ongoing research on wilderness, focusing particularly on the management implications of such work. 4. To describe the evolution of the National Wilderness Preservation System from its philosophical and historical origins to its current size in number of areas and acres, with a speculative look at the future. 5. To propose principles and concepts from which management policy and actions to preserve wilderness might be derived, and to describe current management policies, procedures, and techniques that are available.