Researcher(s):
Sarah Clement
ENVS course(s): 400 Initiated: September 2013 Completed: May 2014 Go to project site
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Since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, people have been debating how to manage federal wilderness lands. How is it possible to manage federal lands for recreational enjoyment and ecological conservation? Over the ensuing decades, each land management agency - the USDA Forest Service, USDI National Park Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management, and the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service - has developed unique management strategies. In the early 1990s, the four agencies came together to form a partnership with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), making the NOLS curriculum "Leave No Trace" the official federal land ethic. By adopting Leave No Trace, the agencies have shifted the responsibility for maintaing wilderness purity from themselves to those who visit wilderness areas, allowing the agencies to pursue other goals and agendas.