By Mason Parker and Katie Bilodeau, Wilderness Watch
In the final hours of the 118th Congress, the Senate took up and passed the EXPLORE Act, which former President Biden signed into law on January 6. Some of our members reached out, confused after seeing other conservation nonprofits urging support for this bill, even as Wilderness Watch opposed it. News articles covering the EXPLORE Act suggested it could be a blueprint for conservation moving forward. But the EXPLORE Act has stirred fundamental questions about conservation, specifically, whether public lands like Wilderness should be protected for their own intrinsic value, or if their value lies solely in what we can extract from them.
As Howard Zahniser, author of the Wilderness Act, said, “The purpose of the Wilderness Act is to preserve the wilderness character of the areas to be included in the wilderness system, not to establish any particular use.” Wilderness is a priceless place to recreate—it provides us solitude, a chance for reflection, and an opportunity to experience a world we don’t manipulate and control. But, as John Muir once said, “Nothing dollarable is safe.” This includes Wilderness.
Consumptive activities include mining, logging, grazing, drilling, and, yes, recreating. While logging litters stumps and slash piles across clearcuts, and mining strips away soil, recreation consumes the space and security of plants and animals. Recreation can destroy habitat, and displace or habituate wildlife. Human presence can drive wildlife to ecologically inferior habitats where food may be in short supply and predator risk is higher. It can also physiologically stress animals, making them more susceptible to disease. High-use and concentrated recreation areas, such as climbing spots, can decrease the nesting success of birds. To top it off, recreation contributes to the introduction and spread of invasive species. These pressures influence whether individual animals produce offspring, affecting broader population levels. For these reasons, we must consider limits and restraint on our recreation impacts.
Some conservation groups supported the EXPLORE Act because of provisions aimed at expanding access to public lands, especially for broader socioeconomic groups. While that’s a worthy goal, the bill gives the National Park Service discretion to install cell towers in backcountry throughout the National Park system, including within designated, potential, recommended, or eligible Wilderness. The EXPLORE Act also increases mechanized and motorized access on public lands; upgrades cabins, campgrounds, and resorts; loosens restrictions on commercial filming; and reduces the public’s ability to review outfitter impacts to wild places on all public lands, including Wilderness.
Alarmingly, the EXPLORE Act makes the first ever exception for a nonconforming recreation activity in Wilderness by allowing climbers to hammer fixed anchors into rock faces. Wilderness cliffs of gneiss and quartzite, limestone and slate, once untarnished by evidence of recreation, can now bear permanent proof of human presence. Moreover, the installation of permanent, fixed anchors will inevitably draw more climbers to what were once quiet wilderness cliffs.
Politicians driving the EXPLORE Act didn’t attempt to veil its purpose. Bringing the bill to the floor for a vote, Senator Joe Manchin—who caucused with the Democrats—said, “We have made a focus of supporting our public lands and the outdoor recreation economy, which is the fastest growing element of our economy in every state.” His Republican colleague, Senator John Barasso, said, “It is a first-of-its-kind recreation package, and it will boost our nation’s outdoor economy…Outdoor recreation added over $1 trillion to our national economy in 2023—$1.2 trillion. That is 2.3 percent of our entire gross domestic product…This is a big deal.”
Yes, this is a big deal, but one where humans aren’t paying the price. Dwindling populations of flora and fauna foot the bill through increasing habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. And contrary to Senator Barasso’s claims, the EXPLORE Act is not “a first-of-its-kind recreation package.” It’s only the latest in a long line of bipartisan legislation that has conflated recreation with conservation—slowly chipping away at protections for the wild. Before the EXPLORE Act, it was the 2023 Outdoor Recreation Act. Before that was the 2019 John Dingell Act. Maybe next year we’ll be fighting the Wealth and Income Landscape Development Act—the WILD Act—because America’s leaders can’t resist a quippy acronym when weakening environmental protections for profit.
By design, the EXPLORE Act is human-centered and extractive—what can nature do for us? But anthropocentric utility was never the reason for protecting Wilderness. This reality is at the core of why Wilderness Watch and our members—who sent thousands of messages to Congress—so strongly opposed the bill. Conflating recreation with conservation causes untold harm to the wild. Perhaps this conflation is based on the myth that recreationists are, by default, conservationists—though there is little evidence linking these qualities, and emerging research suggests the opposite. Anecdotally, we’ve just observed a vocal subset of the climbing community lobby for recreation over preserving Wilderness. More so than individuals, however, capitalism fuels this conflation.
In an economic system where industry is controlled by private ownership, where self-interests and me-firsts feature prominently, and where gains are measured in dollars, it’s not surprising that the common value assigned to public lands extends only so far as who can profit from them. The bipartisan introduction the EXPLORE Act received on the Senate floor wasn’t rooted in equity—it was rooted in money that the recreation industry can generate if turned loose on public lands. Even if recreationists are the foot soldiers, at the end of the day, those who provide goods and services will profit the most from the EXPLORE Act. It’s certainly not groups of veterans or disadvantaged youth who profit financially from constructing cell phone towers, modernizing cabins, or selling bikes, climbing hardware, and ATVs.
With less than 3 percent of the Lower 48 designated as Wilderness, does capitalism not consume enough space already? If you drive through the endless agricultural development of the Midwest—essentially clearcuts of the native prairie—you become acutely aware of how much “progress” has shaped and terraformed our corner of the planet. In the urban sprawl of American cities and their suburbs, you have to wonder if there is any space we don’t feel entitled to, despite the history of overconsumption and ecological destruction that feeds civilization. Or, perhaps we’re suffering from a collective cultural amnesia—we’ve forgotten that these places used to be wild and can’t imagine what they once were like.
Upon witnessing how rapidly industrialization was chewing through the wild over a half-century ago, a few visionary women and men—with the help of an overwhelming majority of Congress—laid the groundwork for a more ecologically ethical future. In the Wilderness Act, they developed a new idea to counter the threat of expanding settlement and growing mechanization. That new idea was Wilderness, and Wilderness offered something invaluable in the face of unprecedented and unrelenting development—it offered domains of respite for the natural world.
Conflating recreation with conservation completely fails to preserve Wilderness. A mountain goat and her kids crossing the steep terrain of the Northern Rockies, as goats have done for eight million years, will never generate profit like the climbing industry. The wilderness idea means protecting the intrinsic value of Wilderness and all of the life it safeguards, regardless of utility to humans or profit capacity. While recreation was always meant to be a part of Wilderness, elevating it to an all-consuming priority will trammel the natural world. Only when we step back and allow space for the more-than-human will we see the wilderness idea fully realized.
Mason Parker is Wilderness Watch’s Wilderness Defense Director and Katie Bilodeau is Wilderness Watch’s Legislative Director and Policy Analyst.
Photo: Mountain goat family by Leon Werdinger.
92 Comments
This issue is finally getting the attention it deserves, however, it’s not just the preservation of Wilderness areas protected under the federal Wilderness Act that should never have type of man-made stuff, but our public lands managed by BLM are severely at-risk of being overused. These lands are multi-use and recreation is important, but many outdoor companies and recreationist do not care about protecting the land, wildlife, water & streams and plants/forests. Just look up the thousands of Go-Pro videos of people on BLM land and how it’s “used”. It’s heart breaking. Studies show it has a negative effect on wildlife. This needs to change.
It always saddens me to hear (and smell) snow mobiles and jet skis or see old growth forest destroyed in favor of an ATV trail. I wish park visitors could enjoy nature through more low-key activities such as photography, bird watching or hiking, and leave as little disturbance as possible.
Thank you for sharing these words, these realities, and reminding us what wilderness is supposed to be. Much work remains to be done protecting our nation’s wildlands!
Wow, this was sooo well said – hard to add much just that as long as everything is about making money then that will be our demise . I just hope that Mother Nature , the Planet, prevails over us selfish humans.
Can’t add to this. Well said. Wilderness should be just that.
If you’re in it. you should not be connected to the internet or even
able to call for help. That’s the shift that should occur. You, intruding on mother earth one on one.
Everything has already been said. I say just leave it alone. I would like to say, what’s so hard about doing that. But we all know the answer to that as Mr. Muir figured it out many years ago, it’s dollarable. As long as somebody can turn a dime off of it there’s going to be some sharpshooter trying to work some angle on cashing in. I just hope anything survives Trump.
Me first, and What can the Wilderness do for me, NOT what can I do for the wilderness…… is how people with no brains think and want to destroy what is NOT theirs to destroy. Instead of protecting and helping…it is destroy and get rid of all that is not human related. What a sick world we live in. Never stop fighting this world and the evilness that is happening. I am beginning to hate America now and the values no longer present here. Fight the new crap with all you have….Please save the Wilderness and the beautiful animals there that depend on you…. I have little hope of anything anymore…. but you give me hope.
Wilderness itself is awe inspiring. Wilderness with people climbing around on it and leaving their stuff behind is like a big outdoor gym. It’s different, really different.
This law is the beginning of the end of any of the tiny amount of remaining wilderness in the U.S. It’s as bad as anything Trump could do, and it was done by Biden and a Democratic Senate.
Protect these wilderness areas from human incursion which compromise the integrity of their ecosystems
We must preserve wilderness & all its inhabitants, & keep ecosystems fully functional & sustainable.
On January 20, 2025 every living thing – every animal, every person, every fish, every bird, tree, plant, mountain, river, stream, field, forest, lake, desert and wilderness area became an ‘endangered species’.
The people who have siezed control of America and it’s rich bounty of natural resources do not care about the value of anything, other than how much $$ they can extract from these “assets” by expoiting or destroying them.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans have little or no idea of what wilderness is – including our morally and ethically bankrupt president.
I am reminded of the reactions of several co-workers when I returned from a fishing trip to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness several years ago. They had no idea that areas like this even exist and do not have hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, phone service, hospitals, entertainment centers or shopping areas.
All they could say was “sounds kinda boring” or “what on earth did you do…?”
We are doomed to perish as the Earth becomes like our neighbor Venus, but can feel safe in the knowledge that our cats and dogs are not being kidnapped and eaten by “illegal” immigrants……
Wilderness needs to be protected from humans.
The Wilderness is certainly very important to me! I think the terrain, the animals and the trees, plants, etc. are places of escape from the noise and craziness of the rest of the country. I am glad there are people that still want to work against supposedly unsurmountable odds to protect these places. I have a nephew who is an avid climber since an early age, but I can be sure he is very respectful of the wilderness! I hope that there will always be people who will fight to preserve the nature. Thank you!!
Wilderness areas should be preserved as wilderness and for no other use. It is defined in the Wilderness Act.
Wilderness should remain wilderness not recreational
Keep wilderness areas wild ! Increase wilderness acreage. Stop chipping away at traditional wilderness meaning no recreation in wilderness areas.
Hey there Senators. Please stop conflating recreation with conservation. Humans trampling all over public lands and hammering in climbing anchors and adding cell towers is not helping the animals. We’re in a mass extinction period for god sakes. Please wake up and protect our wild lands from the obvious enemies of them – humans and profit driven motivation which includes recreation! Stop. Stop. Stop this. It’s a bad and stupid idea and doesn’t help the animals. It helps selfish humans at the expense of wildlife and wild refuge.
The last thing we need in wilderness are cell phone towers. Ridiculous. We need more wilderness and less people on cell phones alot less of the time. More green, less screen, please.
Please listen to science and respect nature and wildlife.
With Trump’s Slash & Burn policies and his not so corny “DRILL, DRILL, DRILL” saying means to me like he really doesn’t care about anything else but himself.
Check out the 5 Habits of a Narcissist , and you’ll get a clearer understanding.
The essay is excellent, and all the commenters saying that wilderness must be preserved, and that recreation opportunities for intrusive humans are destructive of it, are absolutely correct.
Unfortunately, though, in a democracy, it is typical that in order for a good policy to be enacted as law, e.g. setting aside large areas as wilderness, it is necessary first to build coalitions of supporters, who may not see eye to eye on what exactly is good about this policy. It is possible that preserving protected wilderness areas may require a certain amount of coalition-building, and therefore compromising. You decide then how much would be too much.
BTW this is totally apart from reacting to the MAGA mentality and the aims of the Trump administration, which are simply destructive and ought to be resisted thoroughly everywhere.
A thoughtfully written argument that needs to be presented loudly, clearly and widely when the next such bill is proposed.
Great article! Superbly written. Lone Eagle- 40yr Wilderness ranger, NPS, USFS
Population is the problem, not recreation per se. As long as population is increasing, the impacts on the land will increase as well. In rural areas like the one I live in, human recreational impact on our protected lands is minor. We have a much bigger problem from those who want to use the resources – loggers, miners, hunters, ranchers, etc. But the real problem is people. More people, more impact. No amount of well-intentioned activism will do much more than slow the impact down. I certainly am against cell towers in wilderness areas, but it is only a matter of time that we won’t even need cell towers for communication anywhere. So that shouldn’t really be an issue. People – billions and billions of us. Tilt at that windmill!
To call this essay eloquent would be a vast understatement. Thank you.
There is a large field on the east side of Kanab where they are growing an ever-larger fleet of ATV’s. The drought doesn’t seem to affect them.
I have also lived in Moab and Richfield. It reminds me of the old Twilight Zone where the same sailor finds himself waking up on the Titanic, the Lusitania and then the Andrea Doria.
At least with the Andrea Doria most of the passenger and crew were saved due to the disaster relief response of the crew.
Once we set foot in it, it is no longer a wilderness. Wilderness, root word, wild.
keeping our wild places wild is more important, we can set up webcams people can watch, they don’t have to go there and compromise sensitive areas
Wilderness should remain wilderness, plain and simple.
Cell phone towers? inappropriate. blasphemy. Ridiculous as ridiculous as air force flyovers.Totally disruptive. Keep the spaces WILD a
I don’t think making money always has to be a priority over the intrinsic value of Wilderness. I don’t think we have any idea what life would be like without Wilderness, that being wild rivers, old growth forests, desert flowers, etc. Wilderness is good for the brain. Please go out into Nature as often as you can. Establish a relationship with it, like a good friend. Then, maybe, you will want to protect it. Please, I don’t want to see cell towers, hammered in anchors to beautiful ancient rocks, etc.