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Earth's wilderness areas are reservoirs of genetic information and carbon storage systems, and are vital to reducing extinction risks. Retaining the conservation value of these areas is fundamental to achieving global biodiversity conservation goals; however, climate and land-use risk can undermine their ability to provide these functions. The extent to which wilderness areas are likely to be impacted by these drivers has not previously been quantified. Using climate and land-use change during baseline (1971-2005) and future (2016-2050) periods, we estimate that these stressors within wilderness areas will increase by ca. 60% and 39%, respectively, under a scenario of high emission and land-use change (SSP5-RCP8.5). Nearly half (49%) of all wilderness areas could experience substantial climate change by 2050 under this scenario, potentially limiting their capacity to shelter biodiversity. Notable climate (>5 km year -1 ) and land-use (>0.25 km year -1 ) changes are expected to occur more rapidly in the unprotected wilderness, including the edges of the Amazonian wilderness, Northern Russia, and Central Africa, which support unique assemblages of species and are critical for the preservation of biodiversity. However, an alternative scenario of sustainable development (SSP1-RCP2.6) would attenuate the projected climate velocity and land-use instability by 54% and 6%, respectively. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and preserving the remaining intact natural ecosystems can help fortify these bastions of biodiversity., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Affect is a construct that has received substantial scholarly attention in non-representational theory and other fields. This study focuses on human-wilderness relations through a non-representational theoretical lens to reveal insights into the concept of affect. Research indicates that societal and cultural forces play an influential role in wilderness relationships. A focus is lacking on how wilderness may affectively influence, build, or sustain human – wilderness relations through emotional registers. Fifteen people participated in a study of how wilderness affect occurs in everyday life. For one week following a visit to a wilderness area, participants kept a diary and camera to take notes and photographs when certain feelings formed. The researcher augmented the diary-photograph, diary-interview method with exemplary and evocative anecdotes. The results show three ways the emergence of affect becomes perceptible. It offers an example of how affect-oriented inquiry is carried out and informs further affect-oriented outdoor recreation research. Conceptually, wilderness affect appreciates and responds to differences that emerge through relations with wild nature. The study furthers inquiry into emotional meaning making via human – wilderness relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Medium- and large-sized mammals play important roles in maintaining forest ecosystem functions, and these functions often diminish when mammal species are depleted by human activities. Understanding the sensitivity or tolerance of mammal species to human pressure and detecting species changes through monitoring programmes can inform appropriate management decisions. The objective of our study was to identify medium- and large-sized mammal species that can be included in a monitoring programme in the Southern Yungas of Argentina. We used occupancy modelling to estimate the probability of habitat use (ψ) of 13 of 25 mammal species detected by 165 camera traps placed in forests across a range of human footprint index (HFI) values. As defined by the HFI, 54% of the study area is wilderness. The probabilities of habitat use of two mammal species were significantly associated with the HFI: the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris ; ψ = 0.33, range = 0.22–0.50) was inversely associated with HFI values, whereas the grey brocket deer (Mazama gouazoubira ; ψ = 0.79, range = 0.67–0.87) was positively associated with the HFI. Monitoring the probability of habitat use of the sensitive species (lowland tapir) could help us to detect changes in areas experiencing anthropogenic impacts before they cause extirpation, whereas the high probability of the habitat use values of the tolerant species (grey brocket deer) might indicate that anthropogenic impacts are strongly influencing habitat, signalling that mitigation strategies might be warranted. The Southern Yungas retains an intact mammal fauna, and we showed that the HFI is useful for monitoring anthropogenic impacts on these mammals. There are still opportunities to develop conservation strategies to minimize threats to mammal species in the region by implementing a monitoring programme with the proposed species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents the first detailed national wilderness mapping project conducted in Sri Lanka, aiming to identify and assess the spatial distribution of wilderness areas in the country. The study utilises a GIS-based Wilderness Quality Index (WQI), incorporating three main wilderness attributes: remoteness from public roads, absence of modern human interventions, and naturalness of land cover. The resulting wilderness quality map reveals several areas of high wilderness quality distributed throughout the country, with exceptions in the highly populated western region, where roads and built structures have significant impact. The research highlights the spatial correlation between the distribution of wilderness areas and protected areas, indicating that nearly all wilderness areas in Sri Lanka fall within the boundaries of existing protected areas. However, core wilderness areas outside existing protected areas, termed de facto wilderness areas, constitute a significant portion (19.7%) of total wilderness, raising concerns about their conservation status. The study emphasises the need for further evaluation to assess the ecological and landscape value of these areas and suggests new protected area boundaries. The wilderness quality map developed here provides policymakers with a valuable tool for future conservation planning, enabling informed decision making to preserve and protect Sri Lanka's diverse and unique wilderness areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor recreation is an essential way many people engage with nature. The provision of public spaces for recreation intersects with conservation practices motivated by intertwined social and ecological values, such as strict practices associated with the concept of 'wilderness'. Debates persist about how such concepts and management practices influence people's recreation experiences.Many US public land management agencies facilitate opportunities for outdoor recreation, relying on management frameworks and tools intended to foster specific experiential qualities. But these frameworks and tools assume simplistic relationships between settings and people's experiences, and managers rarely assess these relationships.This study uses a data set of nearly 70,000 crowdsourced trip reports from a hiking website to understand the qualities of visitors' experiences on trails. We study the geographic distribution of experiential qualities commonly associated with US wilderness areas: aesthetics, awe, challenge, pristineness, quietness, solitude and timelessness. Using analytical methods that rely on machine learning and natural language processing, we identify these experiential qualities in trip reports from hundreds of routes, and use generalized linear models to analyse relationships between the frequency of each experiential quality and the route's administrative, built, biophysical, geographic and social settings.We find that four of the seven experiential qualities (aesthetics, awe, challenge and solitude) are commonly described in trip reports, each appearing in 15%–55% of manually coded reports. The extent to which setting characteristics explained variability in experiences differed, ranging from 34% of the variability in the proportion of trip reports describing aesthetics to 55% for awe. The setting characteristics associated with each experiential quality also differed, with characteristics such as trail mileage and summit destinations having stronger influences on experiential qualities than characteristics such as wilderness designation.Synthesis and applications. Our findings suggest the need to consider more diverse variables in experience–setting relationships, develop more robust models to characterize those relationships and create new data sources to represent understudied variables. These advances would help empirically inform and improve frameworks and tools used for recreation and wilderness planning and monitoring, and potentially promote more responsive management to evolving social–ecological values. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Fire Ecology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The creation account of Gen 1:1–2:3 is only one of several accounts featured in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. The one account that most closely matches its cosmic orientation is the poetic description of creation given in Job 38–41. Nevertheless, both accounts are worlds apart regarding how they describe creation and what they find most important about creation. Their theological and literary differences make for a lively intertextual conversation, as entertained in the interpreter's imagination. Let the dialogue begin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• 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]

Wilderness is an important resource for tourism but it is very sensitive to overuse. In order to maintain their attraction, wilderness destinations need to be planned and managed carefully. For that purpose, several models have been developed, one of which is the so-called purism scale model. It is used for segmenting visitors based on their preferences and attitudes towards wilderness destinations. Visitors are asked to rank particular items relating to the management and qualities of wilderness areas along a purism scale and are given a score describing their attitudes. A few studies have used quantitative methods with the aim of improving purism scales. The novelty of this study is adopting a qualitative approach to explore the practicality of purism scales for managing wilderness destinations. It is based on semi-structured interviews in a wilderness area in Iceland, Landmannalaugar, with the aim of investigating the reasoning that visitors have for ranking purism items. The results highlight which purism items are useful to divide visitors into different segments and which ones are not. The study identifies several aspects which question the practicality of purism scales, including differences in the perceived meaning of items and the perspective adopted when ranking the items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness is an important concept in the discourses and policies concerning contemporary European protected areas, inherently challenging in terms of sustainability. Since its designation in 1992, the Val Grande National Park, located in northwest Italy, has been portrayed and promoted as a wilderness area, thereby enhancing tourism, whilst disregarding the historical signs of human activity. In this paper we explore the wilderness concept, focusing on the narratives developed in the area, that changed from a strict conservationist approach to a more utilitarian one, influencing the National Park's policy-making. The research is based mainly on the content analysis of several literary texts. We conclude that wildernessneeds to be reconceptualized so that contemporary European protection policies might become more effective, and we may use our knowledge of nature to promote sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

In forms of physical recreation associated with ‘wilderness experiences’, such as backcountry hiking or mountain climbing, technology is omnipresent. As a result, some may wonder whether genuine wilderness experiences are possible. In this essay, I argue that wilderness experiences are possible and that they can be enhanced through games. That is, I contend there are often physically challenging aspects to wilderness experiences that certain games can help to promote. This analysis will stress the fact that Bernard Suits delineated two comparable but distinct ways to engage in games. Following Suits’s logic, I explain how ‘literal skills’ like walking or climbing can function as the ‘constitutive skills’ of games. I then consider how games predicated on ‘literal skills’ can help promote the meanings available in wilderness experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Border Lakes Region of Minnesota and Ontario has long been viewed as a fire‐dependent ecosystem. High‐severity fire in the region's near‐boreal forests has been a focus of ecological research and public fascination. However, the surface fire history within this transnational wilderness landscape has received more limited attention. We used an interdisciplinary, dendroecological approach to characterize the surface fire history of the region, assess potential drivers of historical surface fires, and document the ecological legacies of frequent fires within the red pine forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northern Minnesota. We used tree‐ring and fire atlas data to reconstruct multi‐century surface fire records for 101 sites and document age structure and composition at 32 sites across the BWCAW. Stratification of these sites relative to their proximity to a primary travel and trade corridor used first by Indigenous groups and later by Euro‐American fur traders through the late 1800s provided strong evidence of human augmentation of fires. The patterns of fire activity, fire–climate relationships, and forest development indicate that traditional landuse by Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe) increased rates of local surface fire and played an important role in shaping the landscape. The decline of traditional subsistence practices by the Border Lakes Anishinaabeg coincided with a sharp decline in surface fires and a period of abundant tree establishment. In the absence of repeat surface fires, many red pine sites have shifted in composition, increased in stem density, and grown vulnerable to forest‐type conversion through future high‐severity fire. These results highlight the need for active fire reintroduction to red pine forests of the Great Lakes Region and underscore the importance of collaboration and guidance from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers in this process. A blended knowledge approach to fire restoration that directly engages with Indigenous perspectives and cultural practices can perpetuate the distinctive character of the largest remaining tracts of long‐lived pine forest in the Great Lakes Region. Carefully developed fire restoration practices would enhance the visitor use experience within one of the most frequently visited wilderness areas in the United States while re‐engaging directly with Indigenous knowledge and traditional cultural practices. [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]

In the context of an increasingly severe ecological crisis and accelerating ecological civilization construction, the specific regional differences as well as the natural environment of China restrict the uniform population distribution and the social economy's spatial layout, forming a large and widely distributed wilderness. The post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) takes the protection of wilderness areas as one of the key conservation goals and brings new opportunities for wilderness protection. Objective and accurate identification of the spatial range of wilderness and the determination of the focus of wilderness protection are significant for carrying out resource and environmental carrying capacity evaluations, biodiversity conservation, and national park system construction. At present, fewer studies pay attention to wilderness area identification and protection in China. In this study, we used the MaxEnt and Marxan models to establish a framework to identify the spatial distribution and conservation priorities of China's wilderness as well as guide wilderness conservation. The wilderness areas in China show a large-scale, concentrated distribution in space and a small, scattered distribution. From 2000 to 2020, the wilderness area decreased from 3.6323 million km2 in 2000 to 2.9142 million km2 in 2020, and the wilderness area reduction rate from 2000 to 2010 was greater than that in 2010–2020. From 2000 to 2020, the center of gravity of the wilderness area shifted 893.5 km to the southwest. Wilderness center of gravity relocated from Pingluo County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to Delingha City, Qinghai Province. Considering conservation objectives and conservation costs, we determined that the wilderness area in urgent need of protection is 55,100 km2, accounting for 1.8 % of the total wilderness area. It is mainly distributed in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (13,000 km2), Yunnan Province (12,000 km2), and Sichuan Province (5300 km2). This methodological framework can provide an important reference for governments in dealing with global climate change, maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem diversity, and promoting sustainable human development. [Display omitted] • A research framework was proposed to identify wilderness areas in China. • Wilderness areas was identified based on determinants and influencing factors. • Wilderness degree was determined by using MaxEnt model. • Priority protected areas of wilderness were identified using Marxan model. • From 2000 to 2020, the wilderness area showed a gradually decreasing trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• RWV have the potential to quantify urban ecosystem service capability (ESC) • In Shandong province, there is a significant spatial correlation between RWV and ESC. • PD is a key wilderness indicator that explains changes in RWV and ESC. • CS, HQ, and RD are key indicators in high-quality wilderness. Wilderness has proven to provide a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). Wilderness have been shown to play an important role in preserving biodiversity and providing ES, which is indispensable to both nature and people. It is essential to integrate ES quantification into wilderness conservation and management. This study presents a method that combines the wilderness mapping and ecological indicators to measure ES of wilderness. The method was applied in 155,800 km2 of Shandong province in China, across 23 types of land use. First, relative wilderness value (RWV) and ecosystem service capability (ESC) were quantified according to Weighted Linear Combination (WLC). Then, spatial autocorrelation between RWV and ESC were tested and analyzed using GeoDa software. Finally, the Redundancy analysis was used to investigate the primary drivers of RWV and ESC in different landscape types. The findings showed that, there were 27,263 km2 of wilderness in Shandong province, of which 6,294 km2 were high-quality wilderness. The region with the highest RWV was the Yellow River Delta (RWV = 0.82), and the area with the highest ESC was Laoshan Mountain (ESC = 0.76). Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed a positive correlation between RWV and ESC (Pearson's r = 0.637), both of which had significant spatial relevance (Moran's I = 0.589, P < 0.005). The RWV and ESC high-high clusters were found to cover 5,223 km2 of high-quality wilderness areas. Regression analysis (R2 = 0.744) showed that RWV can quantify ESC of urban area reliably. Population density (Explaining 33.9 %-49.3 %) was found to be a key indicator of RWV and ESC changes through the Redundancy analysis. In addition, we discussed key drivers of RWV and ESC of high-quality wilderness according to different landscape types. This approach can be used and adopted to support planning decisions dealing with wilderness conservation and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Landscape Architecture Frontiers is the property of Higher Education Press Limited Company and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With a shrinking supply of wilderness and growing recognition that top predators can have a profound influence on ecosystems, the persistence of large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes has emerged as one of the greatest conservation challenges of our time. Carnivores fascinate society, yet these animals pose threats to people living near them, resulting in high rates of carnivore death near human settlements. We used 41 y of demographic data for more than 2,500 brown bears-one of the world's most widely distributed and conflict-prone carnivores-to understand the behavioral and demographic mechanisms promoting carnivore coexistence in human-dominated landscapes. Bear mortality was high and unsustainable near people, but a humaninduced shift to nocturnality facilitated lower risks of bear mortality and rates of conflict with people. Despite these behavioral shifts, projected population growth rates for bears in humandominated areas revealed a source-sink dynamic. Despite some female bears successfully reproducing in the sink areas, bear persistence was reliant on a supply of immigrants from areas with minimal human influence (i.e., wilderness). Such mechanisms of coexistence reveal a striking paradox: Connectivity to wilderness areas supplies bears that likely will die from people, but these bears are essential to avert local extirpation. These insights suggest carnivores contribute to human–carnivore coexistence through behavioral and demographic mechanisms, and that connected wilderness is critical to sustain coexistence landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intersects two areas of human geography research: therapeutic landscapes and literary geography. Using Þórbergur Þórðarson's The Stones Speak (2012) as a case study, the paper explores the mixing of the rural environment and the wilderness in a farming community in Iceland at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as the health-related properties of this space. The built environment can function as a site of physical and social health, while the wilderness provides emotional healing and normalcy for the physically sick. Though elements can be recognized separately, this paper highlights how local people experience both wilderness and rural elements as one landscape, as well as how human activity shapes the landscape and its inhabitants's sense of place. Literary geography limits the study to a single cultural context, thus more study is needed to articulate the intersection of rural and wilderness space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental conditions affect one's aesthetic experience in natural environments. Understanding that effect requires accounting for the conditions affecting one's attention and experience. Rather than attempt to reduce and control environmental factors, we compare two similar groups during naturally occurring, intense and overwhelming conditions and examine the relationship between common characteristics as well as environment and group differences. Participants undertook a 5-day, winter, wilderness adventure training course designed to challenge their considerable wilderness and leadership skills under two different extreme weather conditions but within the same wilderness area (n = 47 full participation). In addition to pre- and post-adventure questionnaires, participants responded daily during the wilderness experience to briefly describe a self-selected, strong experience of nature; characterize its associated feeling states; and answer questions probing eight aesthetic aspects of the experience. Participant strong experience of nature related to hedonic and eudaimonic feelings in different ways depending upon environmental conditions. In particular, strong correlations occurred between agreement ratings with "I felt at home in nature" daily experience reports and satisfaction with life and personal growth trait measures, but primarily during sunny and cold conditions on a high plateau (PG: Pearson r = 0.51; SWL: r = 0.70) and not significantly in stormy and wet weather in a mountain forest. In addition, experience narratives that correspond to strongest agreement to feeling at home in nature were examined for shared themes and synthesized into six dimensions: focus on sensory experiences at a particular moment, self-reflection, wonder, appreciation of beauty, positive emotions, and insight of relation to nature. These findings actualize the notion of wonder, aroused by sudden feelings or by reflection, as a salient ingredient in feeling at home in wilderness. The finding of feeling at home in nature, as the most important feature relating to feelings and well-being, is discussed in relation to self-awareness, philosophical thinking, and potential ethical awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, the four federal agencies that manage designated wilderness in the United States receive proposals to implement small‐ and large‐scale ecological restorations within the National Wilderness Preservation System. The combination of climate change with other landscape stressors is driving ecological restoration to be one of the single most important, challenging, and potentially litigious wilderness stewardship issues. In addition, different stakeholders may have strongly divergent views about what the right decision should be, and decisions need to go beyond routine technical and scientific analyses to incorporate a broader range of legal and ethical considerations. We present a framework based on a comprehensive, structured set of scientific, legal, and ethical questions to guide the evaluation of proposals for ecological restoration and other types of ecological intervention in wilderness. This framework of questions is a voluntary tool designed to increase communication and transparency among scientists, managers, and interested publics regarding the trade‐offs and uncertainties of ecological restoration, and promote informed public deliberation in managing the public resource of wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We established an wilderness indicator which was based on regularly updated data. • We developed practical wilderness mapping procedure for long-term monitoring. • The wilderness degree of an anthropogenic landscape (i.e. Beijing) has been evaluated by using varied reporting units. • The integrated wilderness mapping approach is useful for assisting the implementation of Major Function Oriented Zone Plan. Abstract Optimization of the use of land resources is vital for nature conservation in spatial planning, especially for rapid urbanizing regions. On this regard, China has officially announced the "Major Function Oriented Zone (MFOZ)" plan, which aims to achieve a coordinated regional development by dividing the whole territory into four types of regions (prohibited, restrictive, optimal, and important development regions). In this study, an integrated index of landscape wilderness is proposed and calculated on a standard grid map with consideration of perceived naturalness of land covers, fragmentation effect of traffic network, and distance from human disturbance sources. Different report units (e.g. administrative districts, major function oriented zones) are applied for evaluating the intensity of human impacts in an intensively modified landscape (i.e. Beijing, the capital city of China). Our results show that the average wilderness degree of Beijing has slightly decreased from 2007 to 2015, but with internal variation. The wilderness values of districts located at the mountainous area are generally higher than plain area. A large overlap (over 99%) between high wilderness area and prohibited/restrictive development regions has been observed, and the negative impacts from human disturbances in prohibited/restrictive development regions are much smaller than in optimal/important development regions. However, in the north part of Beijing some relatively wilder areas do not show high congruence with MFOZ plan. The results have proved the applicability of this mapping approach, which can be useful for assisting the implementation of MFOZ plan, especially in a multi-temporal monitoring process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wilderness is vitally important: ecologically, economically, socially and culturally, yet it continues to decline globally. Despite high human modification and fragmentation in European landscapes, studies assessing wilderness in Europe suggest the presence of substantial areas of wilderness in mountainous areas. Following a European resolution, the importance of remaining wilderness areas has recently been recognised and efforts towards mapping and protecting remaining wildernesses have increased. The central Alps lie within Switzerland and have been identified in multiple studies as a potential wilderness hotspot in Europe. In this study we develop robust, objective indicators to quantify wilderness and apply them to Switzerland. The indicators account for varying perceptions of wilderness and were evaluated by experts. Assessing international expert opinion to define indicator weightings has not been carried out in similar studies in the past, but serves as a transparent, objective and reproducible approach. The indicators identified high quality wilderness areas, mostly at higher elevations, and demonstrate a suitable method for assessing remaining wilderness areas in landscapes subjected to large modifications by human activities. The spatial distribution of wilderness in the case study region Switzerland suggest that it may play an important role in wilderness conservation in Europe. Our study provides essential baseline information for wilderness monitoring, planning and protection, upon which future studies can build. Above this it provides robust, objective and adaptable indicators for wilderness quantification, which can be implemented in other countries and across various spatial scales. The method can be adapted for other countries – through the use of local expert opinions to weight indicators, and regions – with the inclusion of further datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scottish-born naturalist Alexander Wilson, best known for his multivolume record of the work he did as America's first ornithologist, American Ornithology (published 1808-1814), is also worthy of recognition for his long poem The Foresters, a semi-autobiographical work in which he recounts the journey he took on foot from Pennsylvania to Niagara Falls in 1804. In his poetic treatment of the forest, Wilson contrasts the traditional view of the wilderness (as evident in a typical natural history of the time) with a more nuanced or even apparently contradictory Romantic view of wild nature as sublime and potentially supernatural. The poem, whatever its literary merit, contains the kernel of what Wilson would explore in later writings: the beauty as well as the fragility of the forest and the wilderness; their destruction and his role in that destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture expansion is already the primary cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss globally 1,2 ; yet, to meet the demands of growing human populations, production is expected to have to double by 2050. 3 The challenge of achieving expansion without further detriment to the environment and biodiversity is huge and potentially compounded by climate change, which may necessitate shifting agriculture zones poleward to regions with more suitable climates, 4 threatening species or areas of conservation priority. 5,6,7 However, the possible future overlap between agricultural suitability and wilderness areas, increasingly recognized for significant biodiversity, cultural, and climate regulation values, has not yet been examined. Here, using high-resolution climate data, we model global present and future climate suitability for 1,708 crop varieties. We project, over the next 40 years, that 2.7 million km2 of land within wilderness will become newly suitable for agriculture, equivalent to 7% of the total wilderness area outside Antarctica. The increase in potentially cultivable land in wilderness areas is particularly acute at higher latitudes in the northern hemisphere, where 76.3% of newly suitable land is currently wilderness, equivalent to 10.2% of the total wilderness area. Our results highlight an important and previously unidentified possible consequence of the disproportionate warming known to be occurring in high northern latitudes. Because we find that, globally, 72.0% of currently cultivable land is predicted to experience a net loss in total crop diversity, agricultural expansion is a major emerging threat to wilderness. Without protection, the vital integrity of these valuable areas could be irreversibly lost. • As climate warms, crop production will increasingly shift into wilderness areas • 2.7 million km2 of wilderness will become suitable for agriculture within 40 years • High-latitude wilderness in the northern hemisphere is particularly threatened • Agricultural expansion is a major emerging threat to wilderness areas Gardner et al. show a stark increase in land within wilderness that will become newly suitable for agriculture within the next 40 years. They draw attention to this major emerging threat to wilderness, highlighting that without protection, the vital integrity of these valuable areas could be irreversibly lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 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]

Abstract The National Wilderness Preservation System in the United States provides the greatest level of protection for the ecological and social values of lands held in trust for future generations. Although designated wilderness is the cornerstone of the US conservation portfolio, designation alone doesn't assure the protection of these areas, which are degraded by threats both inside and external to the area. This paper describes new methods for quantifying the location and cumulative magnitude of threats to wilderness, allowing agency managers and the public to evaluate whether the legal mandate from the 1964 Wilderness Act to "preserve wilderness character" is being upheld. These new methods have also been used in developing wilderness stewardship plans and analyzing the potential effects of proposed projects that would degrade wilderness character. The methods described here were developed and tested in seven wildernesses in a variety of ecological, geographic, and administrative settings, and are directly applicable to evaluating threats and improving the management of all 110 million acres of designated wilderness in the United States, as well as all areas that are increasingly recognized internationally as wilderness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, American wilderness has been conceived as a profoundly masculine landscape and a threat to femininity. Early wilderness discourse stressed landscapes of risk and danger, certainly no place for a woman. Prior to the Romantic era and Transcendentalism, but even in recent history, it was not uncommon for women to avoid venturing into wilderness alone for reasons including personal safety and possible corruption of body and spirit. The introduction of tourism in wilderness allowed people to experience the thrill of the wild while enjoying an element of safety through mitigated risk, an experience that appealed to the masculine and created socially significant places. While wilderness has historically been tied to these masculine narratives, these and the wilderness identity are increasingly challenged by contemporary feminine discourse working within various social media platforms. As tourism continues to domesticate wilderness, women are simultaneously pushing against social boundaries that dictate their place within, thus, changing both the identity of place and of women’s roles therein. This process, shifting both definitions of wilderness and woman, occurs through deconstruction of powerful feminine stereotypes through active engagement with these increasingly accessible landscapes. Social media acts as platform through which this changing discourse is garnering support and social power. Thus, this article argues that women’s assertions and performances of power in wilderness directly combat stereotypes of their place in these landscapes. Furthermore, without tourism’s promotion of these spaces as extraordinary and powerful in themselves, women’s performances therein would lack the social significance and challenge to wilderness as gendered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to document the correlation between medical and wilderness training with levels of preparedness for acute mountain sickness (AMS), illness, and injury among backcountry hikers. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, convenience survey in Rocky Mountain National Park in July and August 2015. The study group consisted of 380 hikers who completed a written survey that collected information about demographics, wilderness experience, altitude experience, hiking equipment, communications devices, and trip planning. RESULTS: Factors such as wilderness training (wilderness first aid [WFA], wilderness first responder [WFR], or wilderness emergency medical technician [WEMT]), wilderness experience, and altitude experience all affected hikers' emergency preparedness. Respondents with medical training were more prepared to avoid or respond to AMS (62.3% vs. 34.3% [P<0.001]). They were also more prepared to avoid or manage injury/illness than hikers without medical training (37.7% vs. 20.7% [P=0.003]). Participants with wilderness training were more likely to be prepared to avoid or respond to AMS (52.3% vs. 36.8% [P=0.025]) but not significantly more likely to be prepared to manage illness/injury (31.8% vs. 22.0% [P<0.11]). Adjusting for experience, wilderness training, age, and gender, we found that medical training was associated with increased preparedness for AMS (OR 2.72; 95% CI 1.51-4.91) and injury/illness (OR 2.71; 95% CI 1.5-4.89). CONCLUSION: Medically trained hikers were more likely to be prepared to avoid or manage AMS, medical emergencies, and injuries than their non-medically trained counterparts. Wilderness training increased hikers' preparedness for AMS but did not significantly alter preparedness for illness/injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses pluralistic understandings of wilderness in the context of wilderness therapy (WT). The term wilderness perpetuates a modern worldview of place that beyond ‘civilisation’ exists an environment defined by risk, fear and an unpredictable nature. WT utilises outdoor travel and living practices during therapeutic intervention and health promotion although empirical justification for its use of wilderness for therapy is not yet established. This paper provides three cultural perspectives on wild places in relation to WT. These national perspectives are informed by local practices, historical and societal understandings of wilderness and supported by related literature from Canada, Norway and Australia. The authors (1) illustrate a number of contemporary western assumptions about wilderness enshrined in the WT and outdoor adventure literature, (2) cautiously propose core purposes for using wild places for therapy and (3) encourage further development of WT practice and research within national, regional and even across organisational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a report from the year 2120, a short history of the evolution of the strand city. These unique urban forms rest within radical foundations of specially engineered forests; their plans follow such linear cultural inscriptions as interstate highways and national borders. Within the strands, plateaus of public life and branches of private dwelling float high above a wilderness landscape, within which regional ecologies continue to evolve. In most cases, the strands are autonomous city-states; they do not belong to any nation. The two featured here are Redwood Strand and Saguaro Strand; both began to develop during the third decade of the twenty-first century: the first along the Interstate 80 corridor at the edge of San Francisco Bay and the second along the US/Mexico border. Embedded within this report is, this writer hopes, a nascent political process affecting urban development, one that is directly linked to contemporary global currents of resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acceptance and support by those who live in and around the largest remaining wilderness of Europe is very important for the success of a planned network of designated wilderness areas that should preserve the area's wilderness values. A standardised questionnaire was administered in person to 322 local residents. A cluster analysis revealed two human-nature relationship types: traditional nature users and progressive nature friends, which differ significantly in their feelings towards wilderness and attitude towards protected areas. The generally positive attitudes towards wilderness and the neutral attitudes towards the existing protected areas are a good starting point for communication about, and establishment of, the wilderness areas. As a quarter of the local population is not aware that they are living in a protected area, they should be informed during information events in the localities about the exact location of the planned wilderness zones and the potential consequences for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines American wilderness as “untrammeled” and remains the guiding law in wilderness management despite harsh critiques of the concept in the intervening 50 years. In the North Bay region of California, the “untrammeled” designation is part of a matrix of protected lands that makes its way into the daily lives of local residents. Using three such cases, a Visions of the Wild festival, the drawn‐out legal battle over aquaculture in Drakes Bay and in upgrading a highway connecting two major North Bay communities, the concept of wilderness is a concept on trial. In each of these cases, the ethnic diversity of the area contributes to conflict in understanding and decision‐making. However, as the festival demonstrates, direct stakeholder‐driven discussion of the concept can highlight shared values in nature despite the apparent differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Great Walks' are highly managed multi-day experiences established within New Zealand's national parks. We examine their history and promotion asking ' How have the contexts for recreational walking in the New Zealand wilderness changed?' and ' How are these changes regarded by trampers as practitioners of backcountry walking?' To address these questions, we draw on 703 responses to an online survey. We note a mixed regard for Great Walks among trampers. Some consider the wilderness experience as undermined by the popularity of these branded experiences while others note that they cater for a range of users, despite high costs reducing effective accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with ~20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results identify areas where limited resources should be allocated to mitigate risks to vertebrate species from habitat loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the tourism studies literature, wilderness has been addressed from two perspectives. From the first, human, perspective wilderness is a social, subjective construction that exists only in the mind of its users. From the second, ecological, perspective it is a material, objective reality. Here, we compare these two perspectives based on data collected in one of Poland's most popular nature-based destinations, The Great Masurian Lakes region, and develop a methodological framework which would operationalise this comparison and make it measurable. The research approach combined a survey of tourists and mapping of natural features. The data was analysed, first, to verify whether stated preferences regarding nature and the natural features surrounding tourist accommodation were coherent; this resulted in the construction of a Coherence Index (CI). Second, we analysed how stated preferences with respect to nature were linked to outdoor recreational activities; this was measured by a Nature Cruciality Index (NCI). Finally, both indexes were mapped and their spatial distributions were analysed. The findings showed that the subjective, social construction of wilderness does not always correspond to objective reality. Although tourists declared natural environment to be very important to them, in some cases the analysis found a lack of consistency between expressed preferences and the natural features found around accommodation. The phenomenon was mainly found in towns, where tourists were most nature-indifferent. Moreover, they were not interested in activities with high NCI. In some cases, however, the two perspectives were coherent, especially among nature-oriented tourists who stayed near lakes and those who stayed in villages (who were most conscious of their choices). Tourists who stayed near lakes undertook the most nature-crucial activities. These findings can be used to enhance local planning, management and marketing strategies for nature tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the relationship between place attachment and resistance during participatory planning of the Sengwe Tshipise Wilderness Corridor, located in southeast Zimbabwe, a region that falls within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. Field research was conducted from July to December 2013 using 69 semistructured interviews, seven focus-group discussions, and analysis of secondary data. By following the dominant narratives articulated by villagers affected by this Corridor, we illustrate the multiple ways in which place attachment becomes part of everyday politics of resistance. Results show that a strong place-based identity is at the center of narratives deployed by villagers displaced by war, conservation, and veterinary fencing restrictions. Through deploying this place-based identity, communities collectively influenced both the spatial extent of the corridor and institutional governance arrangements. This article contributes to debates on the role of community agency in the implementation of transfrontier conservation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the public dialogues used in the wilderness designation effort on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington state, USA, to either support or negate the designation. Conflict in the concept of wilderness sprouts from incompatible philosophies of broader human-nature relationships. The concept of “wilderness” in the USA, as embedded in the 1964 Wilderness Act, reflects how the pro-designation community interprets humankind’s relationship to nature and the physical landscapes protected under the Wilderness Act are managed to reflect that community's’ understanding of nature. Conflicts arise when other communities perceive their own understandings of nature to be threatened by the concept of wilderness and the constraints it places on activities in the protected area. Using this case study of Wilderness Area designation on the Olympic Peninsula, this paper demonstrates how different sides of a conflict over wilderness legislation use cultural narratives to dominate the public dialogues surrounding wilderness. Actors in the debate seek to create a story of powerlessness and use this as a tool to legitimize their claim that nature and heritage are at risk. The case study is placed within the broader literature on political ecology and the complex role wilderness plays in American identity and heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountains are home to numerous organisms known to cause skin disease. Bites, stings, poisons, chemicals, toxins, trauma, and infections all contribute to this end. Numerous plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and protozoa are responsible. This paper aims to review skin illness and injury sustained from organisms in the mountains of North America. Other factors such as increased ultraviolet radiation, temperature extremes, and decreasing atmospheric pressure along with human physiologic parameters, which contribute to disease severity, will also be discussed. After reading this review, one should feel more comfortable identifying potentially harmful organisms, as well as diagnosing, treating, and preventing organism-inflicted skin pathology sustained in the high country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness and cyberspace are opposites and yet are poorly defined and set off against each other. Wilderness, in fact, is enveloped by cyberspace and so seems to have become disposable and replaceable. The legal delimitation of wilderness requires us, however, to stop and consider how to cross over into it, and if entered thoughtfully, the wilderness can teach us to recognize how, within cyberspace, it has attained a new kind of sacred force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evocations of the natural world featured prominently within British North American Presbyterianism between the late eighteenth century, which witnessed an influx of Presbyterians into what became the Dominion of Canada, and the mid-nineteenth century, which witnessed patterns of urbanization, industrialization, and technological sophistication through which human beings attained unprecedented control over vast swathes of territory. Influenced by an ancient tradition deeply ingrained in Western culture, Presbyterians saw the undomesticated environment, or wilderness, as a formidable physical reality that needed to be wrestled into submission. They also saw it, however, as a metaphorical wasteland whose abject sinfulness mirrored humanity's fallen state. For all their concerns about the iniquity that purportedly pervaded untamed nature, Presbyterians felt that the forbidding wilderness could be transformed into a benign garden through the vigorous promotion of Christianity among both settlers and Indigenous peoples alike. Their fondness for natural environments that had supposedly been imbued with holiness demonstrates that the Presbyterians' hostility toward what they perceived as the wilderness did not render them averse to nature, per se. Members of the denomination used stereotypically feminine language in referring to natural environments that had seemingly been redeemed and were no longer regarded as ominous. Moreover, they interpreted patterns of material improvement--as exhibited, for instance, in the emergence of fruitful farms and bustling towns--as the inevitable corollary to the propagation of unalloyed piety in backwoods settings. Presbyterian eff orts to Christianize undomesticated environments found expression in a thoroughgoing Calvinism and an emphasis on distinctive ecclesiastical traditions known as communion festivals, which served to diff erentiate the denomination from other Protestant groups. Ultimately, an investigation of Presbyterian attitudes toward the wilderness reveals that religious impulses contributed to human eff orts to subjugate nature while environmental phenomena galvanized Christian evangelism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness attracts tourists and generates visitor spending in proximate communities as people enjoy Wilderness for outdoor recreation. Wilderness also attracts amenity migrants and out-of-region investments into surrounding regional economies. To investigate the amount and types of employment and income generated by Wilderness visitation, we conducted an economic contribution analysis of aggregate national visitor expenditures. The U.S. Forest Service National Visitor Use and Monitoring (NVUM) economic spending profiles were used to construct types and amounts of Wilderness visitor spending and were applied to an estimated 9.9 million annual visitors across federal agencies. IMPLAN modeling software was used to estimate total effects and multipliers for output, employment, income, and value added. Results show that some $500 million is annually spent in communities adjacent to Wilderness, generating a direct effect of 5,700 jobs and a total output effect over $700 million across numerous industries ($2012 including indirect and induced effects). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global efforts to protect biodiversity have fallen short and global threats, including energy development, are prevalent. Assessing impacts of energy development helps determine if protected areas, particularly wilderness areas, can conserve biodiversity, natural habitats, and sustain ecological processes inherent in ecosystems. We quantified the amount of energy development around wilderness areas, evaluated rate of change in energy development, assessed if nearby public land provides a safeguard from energy development, and identified wilderness areas surrounded by the most energy development. We compiled national and regional data on non-renewable and renewable energy development. Across all wilderness areas, 52.8 % had ≥1 power plant or coal mine nearby. More renewable energy power plants occur around wilderness areas than non-renewable. Among all energy leases, oil and gas and wind power leases occur most often around wilderness areas. During 1990–2015, the number of oil and gas wells around wilderness areas increased by 43.5 %. Wilderness areas surrounded by >75 % public land were as likely to have a power plant or coal mine nearby as those with <25 % public land. Wilderness areas ranked highest for number of power plants or coal mines nearby occurred mostly (77 %) in the western U.S. With the continued demand for energy, wilderness areas will continue to be influenced by energy development. Our research can inform the stewardship of wilderness areas and shows that despite their remote location and strong legal protection, wilderness areas are threatened by the increasing presence of energy development in surrounding lands. • We quantified amount and expansion of energy development around U.S. wildernesses. • 52.8 % of all wilderness areas has ≥1 power plant or coal mine within 20 km. • During 1990–2015, oil and gas wells around wildernesses increased by 43.5 %. • More renewable energy power plants occur near wilderness areas than non-renewable. • Wildernesses are threatened by the increasing presence of energy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burns are a common source of injuries worldwide, with a high burden of disease in low- and middle-income countries. Burns also account for 2%-8% of wilderness injuries. Although many are minor, the potential for serious morbidity and mortality exists, and standard treatments used in high-resource settings are not readily available in the backcountry. A literature review was performed to find evidence from low-resource settings that supports alternative or improvised therapies that may be adapted to care of burns in the wilderness. There is good evidence for use of oral rehydration to support volume status in burn patients. There is moderate evidence to support cold therapy as first aid and adjunct for pain control. Some evidence supports use of alternative dressings such as boiled potato peel, banana leaf, aloe vera, honey, sugar paste, and papaya when standard therapies are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]