LBJ - Wilderness Act

Before the Wilderness Act of 1964, there was no real definition of 'wilderness' on American soil. There also was no law preventing all United States territory to be settled and built upon. This would mean that if enough humans existed on America soil, that every last frontier could be conquered, and there would be no reminder of what the 16th century transcendentalists wrote thier poems about, or no fragment of our American History according to the participants of the Oregan Trail, or Western natives's previous home. Although some terrain would be virtually impossible to inhabit, such as the Rocky Moutains or the unforgiving moutains of Alaska. However, if there were no law to protect these places in complete purity they would eventually become poluted in one way or anther. There are currently 9.1 million acres of proclaimed wilderness in the United States. The Wilderness Act was said to promote '...an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.'

The Wilderness Act is a good thing not only for American People but for the rest of the world. It preserves many, many species that exist only in the North American region, and possibly even creatures that reside only in America. If most American soil was inhabited many indigenous creatures would be forced out of thier home, resulting in their deaths and maybe even the demise of thier species. This would disrupt the food web throughout North America. Another plus is that there would be specified limit to the amount of woods and forrest we are allowed to harvest. The vast woods of North America contribute to the global imput of oxygen and the health of the ozone. Also, a large portion of our American history would be lost with the population of the wilderness. The virgin land of the Pilgrim's America would be gone forever. Just seeing pictures of the untamned West helps us understand the inestimable hardship our ancestors had to overcome. The wilderness is in essence the basis of our country.