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The article focuses on the preservation of wilderness and the complex history and challenges surrounding it. Topics include the donation of one million acres of land in Chile by Kristine McDivitt-Tompkins, the criticism of the wilderness idea as a colonial construct, and the need to reframe the concept of nature and wilderness to address its historical baggage and promote more inclusive perspectives.

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• The wilderness was identified using Boolean overlay and multi-criteria evaluation methods. • The connectivity of the wilderness network was evaluated based on the identified wilderness as ecological sources. • Wilderness network can strengthen the network of nature reserves. • Constructing a wilderness network helps to select rewilding areas. • Enhancing the stability of the wilderness network is a strategy to address landscape fragmentation. Wilderness areas provide important ecosystem services for human being, and as crucial habitats for diverse species. Human activities have led to the fragmentation of wilderness landscapes, posing a significant challenge to biodiversity conservation. Identifying wilderness areas and assessing their network connectivity is fundamental for developing strategies to address this fragmentation. This study used Zhejiang Province, China, which is in the process of rapid urbanization as a case study. We identified the spatial distribution of wilderness by combing the index system and its weights of wilderness identification, using Boolean superposition analysis and the multi-criteria evaluation method, and tested the ecological sensitivity. Additionally, the connectivity of the wilderness network was assessed using the wilderness identification results in Zhejiang Province as ecological sources. The results indicate that: (1) 50% of Zhejiang Province still maintains relatively good wilderness integrity. (2) The wilderness network can cover 82% of highly fragmented habitats and currently unallocated potential natural reserves. (3) In areas not designated as nature reserves but experiencing frequent species movement as well as in identified wilderness regions, robust wilderness networks may play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation. The findings provide quantitative evidence for biodiversity-oriented wilderness network protection and landscape fragmentation management. The results also aid in selecting specific areas for rewilding and ecological restoration, thereby enhancing the overall robustness of the wilderness network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Priority areas for process-oriented conservation are mapped for the Alpine Space region. • We compare an ecoregional with a conventional approach to identify priority areas. • Priority areas are identified based on the wilderness quality index. • Ecoregion-based priority areas cover greater ecosystem- and species-level diversity. • Both wilderness protection and rewilding are needed across different ecoregions. Amidst the global decline in biodiversity, there are growing calls for more ambitious conservation targets and practices, including a renewed focus on protecting and restoring natural processes. However, little is known about suitable areas for process-oriented conservation and its different strategies. In this paper, we identify priority areas for process-oriented conservation following an ecoregion-based approach. Using the Alpine Space programme area as a pilot study area, a Wilderness Quality Index is calculated and mapped based on spatial indicators reflecting variations in naturalness, human impact, remoteness, and ruggedness. To identify priority areas for process-oriented conservation, the 10% of areas with the highest wilderness quality are identified for each ecoregion ('ecoregional approach') and compared with the identification of the 10% wildest areas of the entire study area ('conventional approach'). The results show significant differences in priority areas between the two approaches, with those identified by the ecoregional approach being of lower wilderness quality, more dispersed across the study region and different elevation classes, and smaller in size. The ecoregional approach results in a greater coverage of ecosystem- and species-level diversity, yet it highlights a greater need for complementing the protection of wilderness in less modified regions with rewilding initiatives and the expansion of the protected area network in ecoregions with significant human activity. Based on these findings, we discuss the potential and challenges that an ecoregion-based identification of priority areas brings for biodiversity conservation, protection and restoration practice, and local communities. The ecoregion-based approach and the findings of this study can inform initiatives under the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, in particular the target to 'strictly protect' 10% of the EU's land and sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is the focus of many important land management issues, such as wildfire, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and human–wildlife conflicts. Wildfire is an especially critical issue, because housing growth in the WUI increases wildfire ignitions and the number of homes at risk. Identifying the WUI is important for assessing and mitigating impacts of development on wildlands and for protecting homes from natural hazards, but data on housing development for large areas are often coarse. We created new WUI maps for the conterminous United States based on 125 million individual building locations, offering higher spatial precision compared to existing maps based on U.S. census housing data. Building point locations were based on a building footprint data set from Microsoft. We classified WUI across the conterminous United States at 30‐m resolution using a circular neighborhood mapping algorithm with a variable radius to determine thresholds of housing density and vegetation cover. We used our maps to (1) determine the total area of the WUI and number of buildings included, (2) assess the sensitivity of WUI area included and spatial pattern of WUI maps to choice of neighborhood size, (3) assess regional differences between building‐based WUI maps and census‐based WUI maps, and (4) determine how building location accuracy affected WUI map accuracy. Our building‐based WUI maps identified 5.6%–18.8% of the conterminous United States as being in the WUI, with larger neighborhoods increasing WUI area but excluding isolated building clusters. Building‐based maps identified more WUI area relative to census‐based maps for all but the smallest neighborhoods, particularly in the north‐central states, and large differences were attributable to high numbers of non‐housing structures in rural areas. Overall WUI classification accuracy was 98.0%. For wildfire risk mapping and for general purposes, WUI maps based on the 500‐m neighborhood represent the original Federal Register definition of the WUI; these maps include clusters of buildings in and adjacent to wildlands and exclude remote, isolated buildings. Our approach for mapping the WUI offers flexibility and high spatial detail and can be widely applied to take advantage of the growing availability of high‐resolution building footprint data sets and classification methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The overlooked tourism pressure may cause new potential wilderness conflict zones. • Conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness ecological value were mapped on a national scale. • Wilderness areas in China were characterized into 12 distinct landscape types. • The HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are mainly concentrated in the southeast of China. • 46.1% of HH conflict zones are solely subjected to tourist activities. Human activity has been significant driving force behind global declines in remaining wilderness areas. Previous assessments of human activity have focused on long-term cumulative human pressure. However, the growing popularity of nature-based tourism has led to increased tourists' footfall in remote wilderness areas. These short-term tourists' activities, if not assessed and properly restricted, may aggregate to form new potential impact zones. This study maps the potential conflicts between tourism pressure and wilderness' ecological value on a national scale across China. By comparing distribution of conflict zones created through persistent human and tourism pressure, we identify wilderness areas threatened by pressures from tourism. Employing a Self Organizing Maps algorithm, we extract distinctive landscape features of wilderness areas, thereby shedding light on their attraction to visitors and subsequent ecological vulnerability. Our results show that, about two-thirds of China's land is identified as wilderness with 12 types of landscape character, among which 8.9% of wilderness areas suffer from some level of tourism pressure. Moreover, 80.3% of HH (high tourism pressure and high ecological values) conflict zones are concentrated in the southeast of China. Finally, 46.1% of HH conflict zones are unaffected by persistent human activities but are threatened by tourist activities. Our findings contribute to future placement and functional zoning of wilderness reserves in China, with potential applicability to conflict governance and wilderness conservation strategies in other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. It mentions Olmsted's landscape creations, especially his urban parks, are anything but relics of the past they remain a vital part of the present. It also mentions Olmsted intended city parks to provide a counterbalance to their urban surroundings, to be small portions of surrogate wilderness.

Wilderness areas are not immune to changes in land use, land cover, and/or climate. Future changes will intensify the balancing act of maintaining ecological conditions and untrammeled character within wilderness areas. We assessed the quantitative and spatial changes in land use, land cover, and climate predicted to occur in and around wilderness areas by (1) quantifying projected changes in land use and land cover around wilderness areas; (2) evaluating if public lands surrounding wilderness areas can buffer future land‐use change; (3) quantifying future climate conditions in and around wilderness areas; and (4) identifying wilderness areas expected to experience the most change in land use, land cover, and climate. We used projections of land use (four variables), land cover (five variables), and climate (nine variables) to assess changes for 707 wilderness areas in the contiguous United States by mid‐21st century under two scenarios (medium‐low and high). We ranked all wilderness areas relative to each other by summing and ranking decile values for each land use, land cover, and climate variable and calculating a multivariate metric of future change. All wilderness areas were projected to experience some level of change by mid‐century. The greatest land‐use changes were associated with increases in agriculture, clear cutting, and developed land, while the greatest land cover changes were observed for grassland, forest, and shrubland. In 51.6% and 73.8% of wilderness areas, core area of natural vegetation surrounding wilderness was projected to decrease for the medium‐low and high scenarios, respectfully. Presence of public land did not mitigate the influence of land‐use change around wilderness areas. Geographically, projected changes occurred throughout the contiguous U.S., with areas in the northeast and upper Midwest projected to have the greatest land‐use and climate change and the southwestern U.S. projected to undergo the greatest land cover and climate change. Our results provide insights into potential future threats to wilderness areas and the challenges associated with wilderness stewardship and climate adaptation. Despite the high degree of protection and remoteness of wilderness areas, effective management and preservation of these lands must consider future changes in land use, land cover, and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a perspective on the future of planet Earth and the concept of Island Civilization. Focus is given on the awareness of teenagers of climate change and the rise of youth-led environmental movements as a commitment to environmental stewardship and a reflection of a shift in societal attitudes toward sustainability. It discusses the vision of environmental historian Roderick Frazier Nash on human occupancy on Earth and the future of wilderness and civilization.

The author tells about her use of the module called Island Civilization as a form of exposure therapy for upcoming college students to understand environmental changes. She shares the vision of Professor Emeritus Roderick Nash of the University of California on human occupancy of Earth in the fourth millennium and the concepts of wilderness and civilization. Four possible scenarios that students are proposed to examine are the wasteland, garden, future primitive and Island Civilization.

Numerous studies show the benefits of wilderness to humans and the environment. Therefore, preserving and developing wilderness areas within urban settings are crucial to combat and mitigate challenges like biodiversity decline resulting from urbanization. According to previous studies, human-wilderness interactions can be contradictory, e.g., relaxing while feeling anxious and insecure. How individuals perceive and comprehend intentional urban wilderness, what dimensions contribute to their perceptions, and how these dimensions influence the visitors' perceptions remain to be investigated. Selecting Jiangyangfan Ecological Park (Hangzhou, China) as a survey case, this research investigates if and how people perceive intentionally incorporated and designed urban wilderness and how various dimensions of attributes shape their perceptions. This study identified three dimensions that may contribute to visitors' perceptions of the urban wilderness; namely, cognitive landscape attributes, perceived environmental attributes, and their visitation experience. A mixed-method approach was employed using a questionnaire, mental maps, and environmental behaviour observation as diverse data sources to assess visitors' urban wilderness perceptions and comprehension from the three dimensions. Results indicate a high propensity to visit the park as an urban wilderness. Our findings also revealed that visitors' perceptual environmental attributes, e.g., the existence of vegetation and waterbodies and encounters with wild animals, as well as their visit experiences, e.g., their satisfaction with the visit and their motivation for experiencing nature, significantly influence their perceptions. In contrast, prior knowledge and experience-based cognition of urban wilderness attributes showed no significant influence on their perceptions. Moreover, attributes like plant diversity, water visibility, and plant density emerged as critical factors shaping visitors' perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of considering visitors' on-site perception of environmental attributes and actual visit experience when assessing the value and acceptability of urban wilderness areas. Future implications of this study for urban wilderness planning and management were also discussed. • Study combines questionnaire, mental maps, and behavioural observation. • Results indicate visitors' great willingness to experience the urban wilderness. • Physical environmental attributes strongly influence urban wilderness perceptions. • Prior experience insignificantly influences urban wilderness perceptions. • Plant diversity, water bodies, and plant density critically shape perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness is of great value and conservation significance. An in-depth understanding of the evolution of the spatial distribution of wilderness conditions in China and the factors influencing them is crucial for biodiversity conservation and restoration. However, the evolution of its spatial and temporal patterns and the factors influencing them have been little explored in studies of wilderness. In this study, the Weighted Linear Combination model was utilized to assess the quality of wilderness in China over the past 20 years, and the geographic detector model assessed the key factors that have influenced wilderness. The study results indicate that (1) Over the past 20 years, the western wilderness has worsened, while the eastern and central regions have seen some improvement. (2) Changes in wilderness quality are mainly influenced by the temperature and the distribution of nature reserves. (3) High wilderness quality areas are mainly influenced by actual evapotranspiration and temperature, while population density and GDP play a dominant role in most medium and low wilderness quality areas. (4) Interacting factors are greater than any single factor affecting wilderness. The results of the study can provide a reference for the conservation and management of wilderness resources and biodiversity in China. [Display omitted] • Wilderness quality improved in >60% of Chinese provinces, but declined in Xizang (45.3%) and Xinjiang (50.8%). • Changes in wilderness quality are mainly influenced by the temperature and nature reserves distribution. • The dominant factors affecting wilderness quality differ depending on the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities adjacent to protected areas have been intensifying as human population grows, with protected areas in some regions effectively becoming islands within a sea of human development. Studies examining the effects of forest harvesting and deforestation on the biodiversity of adjacent protected areas have primarily focused on study areas within the tropics. Due to concerns about impacts of low-retention or clearcut harvesting on biodiversity in adjacent protected areas, the province of Nova Scotia implemented interim harvesting guidelines adjacent to all parks and protected areas in 2019. To examine the effectiveness of these guidelines, we designed a study to quantify the relative influence of previous clearcut harvesting immediately adjacent to Cloud Lake Wilderness Area based on changes in bird communities along transects beginning 100 m inside clearcuts and extending 300 m into the protected area. Ordinations revealed clear differences in the bird communities among transect points; clearcut and edge bird communities differed significantly from those 200 and 300 m inside the protected area and those 100 m inside the protected area comprised of a blend of species from the other 4 transect point locations. Overall species richness and many individual species abundances reflected this pattern as well - 13 species with clear responses across transect point locations were intermediate in abundance at sites 100 m into the protected area. The weight of evidence from our study supports other research showing that the zone of influence from clearcut harvesting on passerine birds in adjacent forest is at least 100 m for many species. These results suggest that a minimum harvesting and development buffer adjacent to protected areas of between 100 and 200 m would be a reasonable management approach if the objective is to minimize the effects of these activities on the bird communities within protected areas. To determine if a partial harvest within the buffer would maintain biodiversity within a protected area will require additional research that directly compares the influence of partial harvesting to no-harvest prescriptions on a variety of taxa. Additional studies in other protected areas that vary in size and have dissimilar landscape contexts, habitat conditions, and bird communities could provide further insight. • Human activities adjacent to protected areas (PAs) have been intensifying. • We quantified the influence of clearcut harvesting on bird communities in PAs. • There were clear differences in the bird communities among transect locations. • The influence of clearcut harvesting was greater than 100 m for many species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of the trends and causes of wilderness change is critical in supporting wilderness conservation. However, quantitative measurement of the driving mechanisms of wilderness area changes with incorporation of spatial heterogeneity remains a challenge. An integrated wilderness mapping method was employed in this study, with Fujian Province, one of China's first Ecological Civilization Pilot Areas, serving as a case study, to identify the recent spatial distribution and the land-use change matrix of wilderness area changes in the densely populated southeast coastal regions of China. We investigated the potential drivers of changes in wilderness areas from three perspectives: anthropogenic activities and socioeconomics, natural environment, and protected areas management policies, and captured spatial variations using a Multi-Scale Geographically Weighted Regression model (MGWR). The area and quality of wilderness areas showed a decreasing trend from 2000 to 2020, with area decreasing by an average 3.63% annually and wilderness degradation being especially severe from 2010 to 2020. The loss of wilderness areas is influenced by multiple drivers, and under the influence of spatial heterogeneity, different drivers on wilderness areas have a cross-scale spatial character. Human activities and economic development are dominant in driving wilderness degradation and can exert pressure at a large scale. Protected areas may mitigate wilderness loss in the region, but wilderness near protected areas may face greater threats. Natural factors such as vegetation, precipitation and elevation have ambivalent effects, and in some area's climate change may interact with human activities to exacerbate wilderness loss. Compared with global regression and geographically weighted regression models, MGWR produces more realistic results in modeling the relationship between wilderness area changes and potential drivers. This study provides a new perspective for wilderness research, reveals the complex mechanisms of change in wilderness areas, and provides important guidance for global wilderness conservation efforts as well as a reference point for exploring the synergistic interaction between economic development and natural conservation in the densely populated southeast coastal regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps of the human footprint allow ecologists to identify the wildest lands on the planet, track their decline, and prioritize wildland conservation efforts. Other research efforts have mapped biological intactness and identified conservation priorities to protect biodiversity. However, little research has involved the use of historical references to evaluate intactness of species composition globally. We used a dataset estimating historical and current distributions of mammals to address whether the wildest places on Earth support the most intact mammal communities. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the global human footprint was not strongly correlated with mammal community intactness and uncovered surprising situations where both the human footprint and mammal species intactness were high, and other examples where both were low. Our results could be used to enhance maps and estimates of global wilderness areas by identifying wild and intact regions, while also prioritizing conservation of intact but human‐modified landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers how food and eating offers a lens through which we can use the chimerical nether world to understand collective, concrete, and cultural ideas. It mentions wilderness had long been understood as a subcategory of "nature," one in which the unaffected environment held extreme promises. It also mentions connection between hell and wilderness-as-chaos remained in the American protestant psyche and food can play an important role in the cultural construction of hell.

To counteract the threat of global warming, many nations have resorted to increasing their use of renewable energy sources, wind farms being among the most popular. The greatest obstacle when it comes to the acceptance of wind farms is their visual impact. Recently, tourism has become Iceland's largest export sector, the country's natural landscape being the main attraction for visitors. This paper attempts to compare the perception of residents and tourists towards wind energy production in general and towards Iceland's first proposed wind farm, to be located at the edge of the country's uninhabited interior Central Highlands. The study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted among residents living adjacent to the proposed wind farm and among tourists travelling through the proposed area. The results indicate that residents are more positive than tourists towards wind turbines and consider them less intrusive in the landscape. Hence, the location of Iceland's first wind farm at the main gateway into the country's Central Highlands is problematic and likely to disturb the experience of tourists passing through the area. Despite the wealth of wind in Iceland it might be challenging to utilize it for energy production due to the importance of nature-based tourism for the economy. If Iceland becomes a physical exporter of renewable energy, it may be expected that more pressure will be set on the construction of wind farms. Thereby nature-based tourism and wind energy would be in direct competition over land use. • Wind turbines reduce the naturalness of a landscape and the quality of wilderness. • Residents and tourists consider landscape without power plant infrastructure more beautiful. • Tolerance level towards landscape change is higher among residents than tourists. • Economic reasons are likely to influence residents' opinion on wind energy production. • A wind farm in the Southern Highlands of Iceland poses a threat to the tourism industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Help for BC salmon stranded by landslide Steven Aftergood, an expert on JASON and director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy (Washington, DC), says: "The pressures on JASON this year were specific to the DoD. The researchers calculated that the current plant extinction rate has stabilized at ~1.26 species per year, lower than that of the early 20th century but still much higher than historical background extinction rates. At first glance the relatively low current rate of plant extinctions would seem to be good news, but the authors caution that the paucity of information about the status of plant species in many parts of the world makes estimates of future extinction rates highly uncertain. [Extracted from the article]

Deep sea mining could be a disaster for the marine environment, ocean biodiversity, and the fishing industry, and could promote climate change by disrupting oceanic carbon sinks, warns Greenpeace in its new report I In Deep Water: the emerging threat of deep sea mining i (https://bit.ly/2xoWdn3). Launched in 2010, the game aims to inform players about species, ecosystems, and potential environmental threats such as climate change. Phylo game players also showed more positive emotions and were more likely to donate to prevent negative environmental effects such as oil spills, instead of protecting species or ecosystems directly. The team found significant declines in the number of frost days (when minimum temperatures dip below freezing) and ice days (when maximum temperatures never rise above freezing), and increases in the number of thaw days (when maximum temperatures rise above freezing) and mud days (days when the ground is snow-free and temperatures rise above freezing). [Extracted from the article]

The ten first-generation national parks created under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949 generally disappointed those who had advocated national parks in the 1930s and 1940s. Their governance was much less strong than had been envisaged, their administration mostly being no more than the planning committees of the county councils within whose boundaries they lay. Here we explore the establishment of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, designated in 1952 and confirmed in 1954. The idea of a Dales National Park had been canvassed since the early 1930s. We find little public opposition to the designation of the park but little public support for it either. Farmers expressed fears of the damage which an influx of walkers would cause, but it is hard to ascertain whether their fears were well founded. Opposition came mainly from the North Riding County Council. The West Riding County Council seems to have been more accepting of the park, but was reluctant to be yoked to the North Riding in a Joint Board as the act envisaged, so both councils could readily agree that they wanted a weaker Joint Advisory Committee. It was this unsatisfactory arrangement that was finally implemented in 1956. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on mountain novels of John Ehle imagine development of western North Carolina from the end of the 18th century to the early 1980s. It mentions he shows that his characters, like the mountains they inhabit, are multifaceted, dynamic, and changing rather than static and reimagines the first arrival of American settlers to a broad river valley in the mountains of western North Carolina. It also mentions "The Land Breakers" with elements of wilderness and behavioral inheritance.

• Stand-replacing fire threatens the persistence of dry conifer forests in the western US. • The prevalence of stand-replacing fire since 1985 is much higher compared to the historical reference period (∼1600–1875). • The prevalence of contemporary stand-replacing fire in wilderness is slightly lower than in non-wilderness. • The prevalence of stand-replacing fire in the Gila Wilderness is much lower than that observed in the broader ecoregion. • Fire will continue to erode the extent of dry conifer forests unless they are restored to conditions resilient to stand-replacing fire. Dry conifer forests in the western US historically experienced frequent fire prior to European American colonization. Mean fire return interval ranged from about 5–35 years, with the majority of fires burning at low-to-moderate severity. The arrival of European Americans initiated notable reductions in fire frequency through the cessation of Indigenous burning, livestock grazing, and fire suppression. These activities effectively excluded fire from most dry conifer forests, thereby allowing live and dead fuels to accumulate. There are concerns that this fuel accumulation is causing contemporary fires (since 1985) to burn more severely compared to pre-colonization time periods, thereby increasing potential for enduring fire-catalyzed conversions to non-forest. Here, we used satellite-derived fire severity data to characterize the prevalence of contemporary (1985–2020) stand-replacing fire in dry conifer forests within four broad ecoregions for all fires, non-wilderness fires, wilderness fires, and prescribed fires. Our results indicate, that as a proportion of area burned, contemporary fires experienced 2.9 to 13.6 times more stand-replacing fire (depending on the ecoregion) compared to the pre-colonization period. Non-wilderness areas exhibit somewhat higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire, relative to the historical fire regime, than wilderness areas (where logging is prohibited). The relatively small difference between non-wilderness and wilderness suggests that fuel accumulation resulting from fire exclusion has played a larger role than historical logging activities on the prevalence of contemporary stand-replacing fire. Prescribed fires do not exhibit a higher prevalence of stand-replacing fire compared to the historical fire regime. We conducted a parallel analysis in the Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, USA, is it is arguably the best example of an unrestrained fire regime (many fires are not suppressed) in western US dry conifer forests. The Gila Wilderness proportionally experienced only 1.8 times more stand-replacing fire compared to the historical reference period; in contrast, the southwest ecoregion experienced 5.9 times more stand-replacing fire. Fire will inevitably burn a given forest no matter how much money and personnel we commit to fire prevention and suppression, and because of the high prevalence of stand-replacing fire, the long-term persistence of dry conifer forests is jeopardized. Unless forest managers are provided the social license and enabling conditions to substantially accelerate efforts to restore conditions resistant to stand-replacing fire, we anticipate that the extent of dry conifer forests will continue to erode as fire-catalyzed conversions increasingly unfold across the western US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Knoxville Urban Wilderness (KUW) in Eastern Tennessee is part of a larger global trend of acquiring vacant lands within urban landscapes for their natural habitat and recreation value. At 688 ha, the KUW is one of the largest urban wilderness areas in the United States, consisting of loosely-connected land parcels with multiple stakeholders including state, county, and city governments and private foundations. Here we use the KUW as a case study to address critical questions of management that arise for most urban wilderness projects globally: What should these areas be managed for, and how should they be managed? How can multiple stakeholders be efficiently organized to pool their resources most effectively. The KUW is currently used mainly for recreation and its potential for biodiversity conservation and education and ecosystem services is largely unutilized. As a way to promote and manage this unused potential, we began the first ecological inventory, compiling existing data and conducting biodiversity and invasive plant surveys with citizen scientists. We found that the KUW harbors a significant number of plant (250) and bird (193) species, with many other taxa also identified. We also found widespread infestation of invasive plants for which we provide management suggestions. A preliminary visitor survey shows that most visitors (about two-thirds) are from the immediate vicinity, mainly for walking (74.4%) or biking (19.9%). The vast majority (93.7%) of visitors do not want more vegetation management or removal and 98.3% of visitors would like to see the KUW expanded in area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]