ABSTRACT
Participants at the Wilderness Management Workshop numbered almost 400, each with a full and busy agenda at home, yet allocating time, energy and funds to gather at a university town in the Inland Northwest. When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act, the United States became the first country in the long record of civilization to proclaim through law a recognition of wilderness in its way of life, an appreciation of wild nature as part of its culture and its legacy to the future. This chapter charts directions and guidelines for wilderness management, answering questions of how to understand, interpret, and use wilderness properly without abusing it. Political leaders of both parties should recognize that Americans want wilderness and public lands protected, that Americans want the physical environment improved and not degraded any further. The largest contingents were composed of federal personnel, ranging from the four bureau chiefs to field wilderness managers and interpreters.
