What are some threats to wilderness?
The value of wilderness depends on the degree to which it remains undeveloped, a contrast to the highly developed world in which most of us live. However, designating areas as Wilderness does not ensure sanctuary from events that threaten wild character. Even the ecosystems in these most protected of public lands are threatened. • Fire Suppression: Huge expanses of Wilderness have experienced profound and devastating changes because of fire suppression. When fire occurs naturally in Wilderness, it gives rise to rich biological patterns and distribution of plants and animals. When fire is suppressed, unnatural species and quantities of plants and trees take over the landscape. Although we know more about fire and the effects of its management in Wilderness, restoring natural fire over large areas and hundreds of years is a formidable management challenge, fiscally, ecologically, politically and socially. • Invasive Species: Forty-six percent of all federally-listed threatened and endang
