Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Zealand's first parks had lodges and hostels established within them that matched the
tourist developments in the North American parks. Australia's first parks, particularly
those of Queensland and Tasmania, were also marked by the influence of the desire of
government to boost tourism. However, the Australian parks were also noted for their
establishment, in unison with railway development, as areas where city-dwellers could
find mental restoration in recreation and communion with nature (Hall 1985, 1992a).
With the closing of the American frontier at the end of the nineteenth century the
preservation of America's remaining wilderness received new impetus. A massive but
unsuccessful public campaign by wilderness preservationists led by John Muir to protect
Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park from a dam scheme, a
conservationminded President (Theodore Roosevelt) in the White House, and the
emergence of economically oriented 'progressive conservation' under the leadership of
Gifford Pinchot all led to wilderness preservation becoming a matter of public
importance in the United States.
The United States Forest Service and National Park Service responded to pressures
from recreationalists for the creation of designated wilderness areas. Contemporaneously,
the development of the science of ecology led to a recognition of the scientific
importance of preserving wilderness. The various elements of wilderness preservation
blended together in the inter-war years to lay a framework for the establishment of legally
protected wilderness areas.
Economic conservation and the development of a scientific perception of wilderness
was also influential in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In Australia, the publication
of George Perkins Marsh's (1864 (1965)) topic Man and Nature stimulated the colonial
governments into establishing forest reserves. In addition, significant scientists such as
Baron von Mueller, and bodies such as the Australasian Association for the Advancement
of Science argued for the preservation of native flora and fauna in both Australia and
New Zealand. However, the first national parks in Australia were created for reasons of
aesthetics, tourism and recreation with science gaining little recognition (Hall 1992a).
In Canada, progressive conservation proved influential in the creation of forest
reserves, and it is significant to note that many of the early Canadian parks were
established under forestry legislation. However, the preservation of wilderness lagged
behind the efforts of the United States (Nicol 1969).
The declaration of the Wilderness Act in 1964 marked the beginning of the current
legislative era of wilderness preservation in the United States. Under the Wilderness Act
wilderness is defined as 'an area where the earth and its community of life are
untrammelled by man, where man himself is the visitor that does not remain'. The four
defining qualities of wilderness areas protected under the Act are that such areas
• generally appear to be affected by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man
substantially unnoticeable
• have outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of
recreation
• have at least 5000 acres or be of sufficient size as to make practical its preservation and
use in an unimpaired condition
• may also contain ecological, geological or features of scientific, educational, scenic or
historical value.
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