Redefining Wildness: The Wilderness Idea and Eastern National Forests, 1964-1975

TL;DRAbstract

In 1975 Congress passed the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act (EWAA), which established wilderness preserves in national forests east of the hundredth meridian. The EWAA was an addendum to the original Wilderness Act passed in 1964. During the decade in question, roughly 1964-1975, wilderness advocates redefined a notion of wilderness associated with vast primeval nature typical of western landscapes and applied the wilderness concept to fragmented forests in the East that were transformed by generations of use and habitation. Changing social context altered the terms of wilderness advocacy. The debates over the original Wilderness Act reflect the optimism of post-war America. However, in the wake of Vietnam, Watergate, and an emerging environmental consciousness, the wilderness movement changed. The local politics of the EWAA reflect that change, and is a significant democratization of conservation. CHANGE The altered conception of wilderness trumpeted by eastern wilderness advocates repre

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