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THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WILDERNESS
http://www.blog4change.org/articles/7770/1/THE-IMPORTANCE-OF-THE-WILDERNESS/Page1.html
By John Kitsco
Published on 02/28/2012
 
Pulitzer-prize winner Wallace Stegner wrote an article in the Aug/Sept. 2004 issue of Mother Earth News and the article was simply called: Why we need Wildnerness....

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It is absolutely imperative that we preserve wild places. There is something absolutely magnificent and spiritual about the wilderness. Is it perhaps the
quiet that reaches our soul, or the fact that being away from civilization puts an edge on our character. We are away from stinky automobiles,
we are free from technology and the noise that
greets us when we listen to the morning news.
Something about being in the wilds that is good for
our sanity, giving us peace and rest and allowing our minds to soar and find beauty that is so very
special and simplistic.

Wallace Stegner,often known as the Dean of Western Writers, wrote in Mother Earth News:
"...we are a wild species, as Darwin pointed out.
Nobody ever tamed or domesticated  or scientifically bred us. But for at least three millennia we have been engaged in a cumulative
and ambitious race to modify and gain control of our environment, and in the process we have come close to domesticating ourselves. Not many people are likely, any more, to look upon what we call
progress as an unmixed blessing.Just as surely as it brought us increased comfort and more material goods, it has brought us spiritual losses,and it threatens now to become the Frankenstein that will
destroy us."

So what is wrong with the forest, just as it is? We had best examine that question and realize that
the future depends not on what we plan to do, but
exactly what we are doing now- with the hope that is not too late, and with the hope that our progess
includes dedicated regions, wilderness banks as it were....

Those who believe the wilderness is a place to party and smoke and roar about - better think again, and learn real quick what the real meaning of wilderness is, and that it will be there for our
children and grandchildren.  We must get to know and respect the little animals of the wilds as our brothers.

Should we continue to exploit the wilds and roar about with jeeps or bulldozers and ignore this gift,
this irreplaceable wilderness...then we can surely expect that its too late and we have already drifted towards the home of Frankenstein.  Its our choice.