Blog Entry #5: Alaska's Wilderness

When most people think of Alaska, the first thing that comes to mind is probably the great amount of wilderness in this state.  However, people have very different ideas of what qualifies as wilderness and what is and is not worth protecting.

For the people who live in Alaska, I suppose the boundaries of the wilderness depend on the individual.  Of course, there are legal considerations, but aside from that, whether or not a place qualifies as wilderness is more or less up to the person who observes it.  For instance, one person may consider the trails on the University of Alaska campus to be wilderness- after all, there are lots of trees, birds, and other animals there, as well as a natural lake- while others would scoff at this and believe that Denali National Park better meets the qualification of wilderness.  Still others would disregard the park as being wilderness since thousands of people visit every year, take tour buses through the park, camp, and hike around.  Perhaps they would only feel that a place 100 miles from any town and with no humans living nearby is really considered wilderness.  I suppose that I tend to have a more relaxed idea of what constitutes wilderness.  While there’s no danger of being eaten by a bear or starving to death at UAF, it seems pretty outdoorsy to me!  As a decidedly indoorsy person (who nonetheless finds the outdoors beautiful), any place with shelter too far away to run to before being trampled to death by a moose sounds like the wilderness.

Yes, I do believe that Alaskans should protect the wilderness here.  Not just the wilderness, but the environment in general.  On my midterm and in one of our class discussions, I even wrote that taking steps to protect Alaska’s environment (or at least being involved in it in a positive way) is one of my qualifications for what makes a “real” Alaskan.  I fear that if we decided to lift all protections set in place on our wilderness, it would be completely exploited and destroyed.  Natural resources, animals, trees, rivers, and lakes would be ruined.

Cronon’s essay discussed (in great, exhausting, hour plus of reading detail) the danger that arises when people consider themselves to be apart from the wilderness and end up viewing it as an extension of the comforts of civilization and a place to be revered only when it is unspoiled, with no other humanity around.  I do definitely agree that a false dichotomy can be constructed when people have this idea that the only wilderness is places far from human habitation and free of human influence, while disregarding the bits of wilderness that are much closer to home.  For instance, it would be a tragedy if the UAF trails or the forested area behind Creamer’s Migratory Waterfowl Refuge were disregarded and destroyed because they aren’t secluded enough.  At the same time though, I do not feel that setting out to protect the wilderness gets anything into trouble.  Protecting the wilderness is important, we just need to remember to protect the scraps of wilderness that are closer to home and less awe inspiring.

 Wilderness or not?  Creamer's Migratory Wildfowl Refuge in Fairbanks, AK.  Photo from Igougo's Alaska Journal: Road Trip from California to Alaska and taken by member "TwoIdiots"