Abstract
This paper examines the wilderness of the Everglades National Park (ENP). This wilderness challenges both the concept and history of wilderness in the United States. While the modern concept of wilderness formed in the 1920s revolved around wilderness as a recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual resource, the Everglades was protected for biocentric reasons, a rationale for preservation typically thought of as a product of modern environmentalism. This new ecological rationale for wilderness was necessary largely due to the nature of the Everglades itself. Conservationists traditionally saw little anthropocentric value in wetlands; therefore, activists seeking to protect the Everglades had to utilize new biocentric rationales to argue for its preservation. Because this wilderness is composed of wetlands and aquatic areas, traditional definitions of wilderness have little application in the Everglades. Modern definitions of wilderness revolve around roadlessness and the absence of human-built constructs, but these definitions, particularly roadlessness, have little application in the Everglades. This wilderness yet also illustrates the flexibility of wilderness and shows that ecological values, rather than just romantic notions of unspoilt nature, need to be considered when defining and delineating wilderness. Finally, this paper examines how the human/nature dichotomy that lies at the foundation of wilderness is an obvious fiction in the Everglades.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
William Cronon, “Foreword,” in Paul Sutter, Driven Wild: how the fight against automobiles launched the modern wilderness movement, University of Washington Press, Seattle 2002, xii.
Roderick Frazier Nash, Wilderness and the American mind, New Haven: Yale University Press, 4th edition, viii, italics in the original.
Sutter, 14. For a more in-depth analysis of Leopold's ecological thinking and his thinking about wilderness, see Sutter (2002), 54–99, especially 96–98.
J. Baird Callicott and Micheal P. Nelson, “Introduction” in The great new wilderness debate: an expansive collection of writings defining wilderness from John Muir to Gary Snyder, University of Georgia Press, Athens 1998, 2.
Wilderness Act of 1964, Congressional Record, House, 73rd Congress, 9504.
Congressional Record—House, 73rd Congress, 9494–9516.
Sellars, 93.
George Wright, Thomas Dixon and Ben Thompson Fauna of the national parks, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933, 53, 67.
George Wright to Ernest Coe (EC), 27 January 1934, Record Group (RG) 79, National Archives (NA), College Park.
Wright, 135–136.
EC, “The proposed tropic Everglades National Park: a Florida perpetual asset,” 10 April 1929, David Carlton Papers, Florida State Archives (FSA), Tallahassee.
EC to the National Park Service, “Submitted suggestions,” 1 March 1930, RG 79, NA, College Park.
Beard, Wildlife reconnaissance, US Government Printing Office, Washington, 1938, 100.
Beard, Wildlife reconnaissance, 101, 1; Beard memo to the NPS, 12 May 1942, RG79, NA, College Park, Emphasis in the original.
EC to Miss Harlean James, March 18, 1931, Shotlz Papers, FSA.
EC to Duncan Fletcher, 2 April 1929, RG79, NA, College Park.
George Wright to EC, 9 October 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
Beard speech 12 November, 1947, RG79, NA, College Park.
Robert Sterling Yard, Statement at the Hearing on the Everglades National Park Bill, 15 December 1930, B230, RG79, National Archives, College Park.
Robert Sterling Yard to Henry Isaac Ward, 4 February 1929, RG79, NA, College Park.
Robert Sterling Yard to Ray Lyman Wilbur, 7 January 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
Bryant report, 14 January 1935, SH Papers, PK Younge Library, University of Florida.
Daniel Beard, “Diversity in the Everglades,” in Regional Review, August 1938, Vol 1, No2, 23–25, 25.
Horace Albright to Robert Sterling Yard, 30 January 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
Horace Albright to Robert Sterling Yard, 24 January 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
Horace Albright to Robert Sterling Yard, 5 January 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
Ray Lyman Wilbur to Horace Albright, 20 December 1930, RG79, NA, College Park.
EC to Harold Bryant, 16 April 1936, EC Papers, South Florida Collections Management Center (SFCMC), ENP.
EC to Arno Cammerer, 20 November, 1934, RG79, NA, College Park.
Congressional Record, House, 73rd Congress, 9504.
This is a contentious claim, as the US Forest Service had been administering lands as wilderness since 1924. Regulation L-20 mandated that these areas be kept primitive and were functionally wilderness. According to Susan Flader in Thinking like a mountain (16, ft 13), when the USFS designated an area in Gila National Forest a wilderness in 1974, they declared that the area had been the first designated wilderness in the US. However, this was an administrative designation, not part of any of the laws of the United States, as in the case of Everglades National Park.
Beard, Wildlife reconnaissance, 101.
Beard, Wildlife reconnaissance, 101.
George Wright to EC, 9 October 1931, RG79, NA, College Park.
BWACW page at Wilderness.net: http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=NWPS&sec=wildView&WID=70; this website, maintained by the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center, the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, and the University of Montana's College of Forestry and Conservation's Wilderness Institute, is an excellent repository of information about wilderness areas in the United States.
Wilderness Act of 1964, Congressional Record, House, 73rd Congress, 9504.
Current regulations are available at: Everglades National Park Boating Regulations Brochure, accessible on the ENP website at: http://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/safetyregs.htm.
EC to Jacques, 14 February 1938, RG79, NA, College Park.
References
Callicot JB, Nelson M (1998) The great new wilderness debate: an expansive collection of writings defining wilderness from John Muir to Gary Snyder. University of Georgia Press, Athens
Callicot JB (1998) Should wilderness areas become biodiversity preserves. In: Callicot JB, Nelson M (eds) The great new wilderness debate. University of Georgia Press, Athens
Catton T (1997) Inhabited wilderness: Indian Eskimos and national parks in Alaska. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque
Cole D (2000) “Paradox of the primeval: ecological restoration in wilderness” Ecological Restoration 18(2)
Davis J (2009) An everglades providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American environmental century. The University of Georgia Press, Athens
Davis S, Ogden J (1994) Everglades: the ecosystem and its restoration. St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton
Dawson C, Hendee J (2009) Wilderness management, 4th edn. Fulcrum, Golden
Douglas MS (1947) The Everglades: river of grass. Pineapple, Sarasota
Douglas MS, Rothchild J (1987) Marjory Stoneman Douglas: voice of the river. Pineapple, Sarasota
Flader S (1974) Thinking like a mountain. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison
Forman D (1998) Wilderness: from scenery to nature. In: Callicot JB, Nelson M (eds) The great new wilderness debate. University of Georgia Press, Athens
Forman D (2004) Rewilding North America. Island, Washington
Frome M (1997, Revised edition.) Battle for the wilderness, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
Glover J (1990) Romance, recreation, and wilderness: influences on the life and work of Bob Marshall. Environ Hist Rev 14(4)
Grunwald M (2006) The swamp: the Everglades, Florida, and the politics of paradise. Simon & Schuster, New York
Harvey M (2005) Wilderness forever: Howard Zahniser and the path to the Wilderness Act. University of Washington Press, Seattle
Harvey M (2002) Sound politics: wilderness, recreation, and motors in the Boundary Waters, 1945–1964. Minn Hist 58(3)
Hendee J, Stankey G (1973) Biocentricity in wilderness management. BioScience 23(9)
Lodge TE (1998) The Everglades handbook: understanding the ecosystem. St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton
Louter D (2006) Windshield wilderness: cars, roads, and nature in Washington's national parks. University of Washington Press, Seattle
Miles JC (2009) Wilderness in the national parks: playground or preserve. University of Washington Press, Seattle
Nash R (2001) Wilderness and the American mind, 4th edn. Yale University Press, New Haven
Nelson MP (1998) An amalgamation of wilderness preservation arguments. In: Callicot JB, Nelson MP (eds) The great new wilderness debate. University of Georgia Press, Athens
Noss RF (1998) Wilderness recovery: thinking big in restoration biology. In: Callicot JB, Nelson MP (eds) The great new wilderness debate. University of Georgia Press, Athens
Noss RF (1994) “Building a wilderness recovery network” The George Wright Forum 11(4)
Maher N (2008) Nature's new deal: the civilian conservation corps and the roots of the American environmental movement. Oxford University Press, Oxford
McCally D (1999) The Everglades: an environmental history. University Press of Florida, Gainesville
McCloskey M (1966) The Wilderness Act of 1964: its background and meaning. Oregon Law Review, 45 (June 1966)
McCloskey M (1995) What the Wilderness Act accomplished in protection of roadless areas within the national park system. J Environ Law Litig 10(455–471)
Meyer K (1994) How to shit in the woods: an environmentally sound approach to a lost art, 2nd edn. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley
Myers RL, Ewel JJ (1990) Ecosystems of Florida. University Press of Florida, Gainesville
Runte A (1979) National parks: the American experience. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
Sellars RW (1997) Preserving nature in national parks: a history. Yale University Press, New Haven
Spence MD (1999) Dispossessing the wilderness: Indian removal and the making of the national parks. Oxford University Press, Oxford
South Florida Natural Resources Center (2008) Patterns of propeller scarring of seagrass in Florida Bay: associations with visitor use factors and implications for natural resource management. SFNRC Technical Series 2008:1
Sutter P (2002) Driven wild: how the fight against automobiles launched the modern wilderness movement. University of Washington Press, Seattle
Wilhelm C (2010) Prophet of the glades: Ernest Coe and the fight for Everglades National Park. Dissertation Florida State University
White R (1995) The organic machine: the remaking of the Columbia River. Hill and Wang, New York
Wright G, Dixon T, Thompson B (1933) Fauna of the national parks of the United States. US Government Printing Office, Washington
Zwieg C, Kitchens W (2010) The semiglades: the collision of restoration, social values, and the ecosystem concept. Restor Ecol 18(2)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilhelm, C. For the birds: challenging wilderness in the Everglades. J Environ Stud Sci 3, 153–166 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-012-0105-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-012-0105-9