Pathways to the Primitive 



by Robert M. Hyatt . . . photograph by Ernst Peterson 



WITHIN the boundaries of our western national forests, where 

 the peaks are lonely and the trails run dim, lie the last true 

 strongholds of nature in our land. These strongholds are the 

 seventy-six Wild and Wilderness Areas tracts of land set aside 

 by the U. S. Forest Service to preserve primitive conditions of 

 habitation and environment. 



The areas have been selected during the past thirty-five years 

 to represent typical forests, deserts, watersheds, geological for- 

 mations, and mountain terrain in a primitive state. Accessible 

 only by trail or water, they are located in eleven western states 

 and Minnesota. Their variety, vastness, and beauty are difficult 

 to comprehend. Hunting and fishing is permitted within them, 

 according to state laws. 



The distinction between Wild and Wilderness Areas is merely 

 a matter of size. Wild Areas are between 5,000 and 100,000 acres; 

 Wilderness Areas are 100,000 acres or larger. All together, these 

 primitive areas total 14,000,000 acres. But they cannot be meas- 

 ured in acres or by any ordinary standard of value. Their sig- 

 nificance, grandeur, and the quality of recreation to be found 

 in their fastnesses can be judged only in terms of equities of the 

 human spirit. 



In fact and in concept, the Wilderness Areas are guarded and 

 maintained by the U. S. Forest Service. Their protection is 

 also the fundamental objective of a spirited organization called 

 "The Wilderness Society." The guardianship of both groups 

 is distinguished by a quiet, unrelenting zeal, and by an inspira- 

 tion all its own. Their laws are mostly of the unwritten kind 

 but they are a potent force in winning the individual's support 

 of the wilderness idea. 



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