By David Sublette, Member, National Wildlands and Wilderness Team; Organizer of50th anniversary celebration of the Wilderness Act for Pennsylvania and Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club Alaska Chapter Newsletter Editor; Coordinator, Sierra Club Wilderness 60th Celebration
On September 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Wilderness Act into law – establishing a National Wilderness Preservation System ”for the use and enjoyment of the American people.” The new wilderness system set the stage for designation of the Allegheny National Forest’s wilderness areas twenty years later. During 2024, as the Wilderness Act turns 60, we’ll reflect on the historic value of this major American cultural and environmental achievement. Sierra Club, other wilderness groups, and the four federal wilderness managing agencies will use this big anniversary to educate a broader public about the concept and benefits of wilderness. Pennsylvanians will also honor the role of Pennsylvania resident Howard Zahniser, principal author of the Wilderness Act itself.
The 1964 Wilderness Act defines “wilderness” as areas where “the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man,” with “untrammeled” meaning left wild and free from human control or manipulation. Wilderness designation provides the strongest and most permanent protection of our laws for wilderness values such as adventure, solitude, respite from the pressures of civilization, clean air and water, scenery, wildlife, and scientific understanding of how the natural world works when left alone.
Today, our national 30 by 30 campaign points to a more urgent need for wilderness to preserve threatened wildlife habitat. Only Congress can designate wilderness—by law – and it was the voices of Americans that convinced Congress over the past 60 years to expand the initial 9.1 million acres of wilderness in 54 national forest areas in 13 states to 111 million acres with 803 areas in 44 states and Puerto Rico-- wild areas in national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, and western lands of the Bureau of Land Management.
The Wilderness Act declared it to be the policy of our nation to “to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness”. While the Sierra Club began long before the Wilderness Act was signed, the basic principles underlying the Act are also the founding principles of the Sierra Club: preserving wild places. Sierra Club has played a big role in the national wilderness effort from the start-- hosting biennial wilderness conferences and working hard on getting the 1964 bill passed. The Sierra Club outings program has always drawn attention to protected places and places that need to be saved from development.
A uniquely American concept, wilderness is a great social and environmental achievement in which our nation agrees to restrain in special wild places the normal trend toward development so that nature can dominate here forever. Let’s make 2024 America’s year for wilderness--with people who live or visit here doing so in profound harmony with nature.
In 1964, in the original act, thirteen states had wilderness areas designated,Forest Service lands that the agency had previously administratively managed as “wild” or “primitive.” Only two of those states were east of the Mississippi—North Carolina and New Hampshire.
The United States Congress designated both of Pennsylvania’s two wilderness areas, Allegheny Islands Wilderness and Hickory Creek Wilderness, in 1984; thus, 2024 marks 40 years of wilderness in Pennsylvania. Both wildernesses are in the Allegheny National Forest, managed by the Forest Service.
Allegheny Islands Wilderness:
The Allegheny Islands Wilderness is very small in acreage. Between Buckaloons Recreation Area and the town of Tionesta, a distance of approximately 56 miles, seven islands in the Allegheny River have been designated as Wilderness. Alluvial in origin, the islands were formed from deposits of sand, mud, and clay that the river carried down from the Allegheny Mountains. Old river-bottom trees--willow, sycamore, and silver maple--characterize these little hunks of wild land. Crull’s, at 96 acres, is the largest, followed by Thompson’s and Baker (both 67 acres), Courson (62 acres), King (36 acres), R. Thompson’s (30 acres), and No-Name (10 acres). Leave No Trace camping is essential on these islands because of the impacts litter and improperly disposed waste can have on this river system.
Although trailless, the islands are relatively easy to explore on foot in the springtime. As the year goes on, the brush becomes denser, and exploration is more of a challenge. Approximately 87 miles of the Allegheny River have been designated as “recreational” under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The calm water here extends an irresistible invitation to many placid-water canoeists. Many kinds of waterfowl may be seen along the river, along with bald eagles, blue and green herons, turkey buzzards, and a variety of songbirds.
Along the Hickory Creek Wilderness trail:
The Hickory Creek Wilderness has a total of 8,630 acres and is managed by the Forest Service. Pennsylvania’s Hickory Creek Wilderness rises from 1,273 feet to a plateau at 1,900 feet. Densely forested, this wilderness contains mostly northern hardwoods and hemlock, with an understory of abundant flowers, ferns, shrubs, and mosses. Bear, deer and turkey are common. Hickory Creek Trail, the only designated trail within the wilderness, is managed for foot travel only. The rolling 12-mile loop provides for easy day hikes as well as overnight backpacking opportunities along flat to moderately steep terrain. Access to the trail is from a dedicated parking area just off State Route 2002. The trail may be difficult to follow after snowfall in winter.
For more information on wilderness and Pennsylvania’s wilderness areas, please visit Wilderness Connect.
This blog was included as part of the September 2022 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!