ABSTRACT
In considering the relationship, or the differences, between Eastern, Western and Alaskan wilderness, Destry Jarvis starts with the premise that Congress knew what it was doing in 1964 when it adopted the National Wilderness Preservation System Act. There are some who attempt to rationalize or magnify differences between Eastern and Western and Alaskan wilderness. There are differences in terrain, topography, vegetation, wildlife and use patterns. In managing wilderness, these have to be emphasized. A group of leaders and philosophers, pragmatic romanticists epitomized by Aldo Leopold and Robert Marshall, emerged to advocate wilderness from a slightly different perspective. Anyone who has experienced the wilderness of 89,000 acres in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia or of 7,052,000 acres in Gates of the Arctic Wilderness in Alaska recognizes they are different wildernesses. It is proper that each agency have a classification system, though Jarvis strongly urge consistency among agencies so that the baseline standards of the Wilderness Act are maintained.
