Page 10 - 2006 AMA Summer

WALKING IN
Mike and Jo on the summit of the grand Teton. 4200m.
River Mountains, a designated wilderness area, and Grand Teton National Park, a mountain range that is only 40 miles in length and situated just south of Yellowstone National Park. In the beginning, National Parks, such as Yellowstone, were set up to presen/e wildlife for hunting. Although now an out of date wilderness management objective, much of what we understand of conservation today was borne from this.
Aldo Leopold, one of the fathers of conservation in America, understood that in order to preserve hunting stocks, the landscape in which these species lived had to be preserved. Importantly he understood that by definition 'wilderness is a resource
which can shrink but not grow... the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible,' and therefore he realised that areas needed to be protected. Protection of UK wilderness came far too late; despite appearances the UK has no true wilderness. Even in the remotest parts of Scotland the landscape has been permanently altered by the crofters who used to populate the Highlands. The high moorlands that we value as
some of our wildest places in the UK are, in fact borne from human alternation of the ecosystem. Once stripped of trees a combination of grazing and the soil becoming too waterlogged and acidic, meant that the trees could not return, and therefore a new ecosystem, from mainly introduced plants, evolved that could cope with this environment.
In America however, not
having sustained the population that the UK has
had for centuries, true wilderness remains, the preservation of which is left in the hands of the National Park Sen/ice. Trekking through the Grand Tetons, an area that is of such natural beauty that it has National Park status, we were met with constant evidence of human impact, but not by the careless camper as
you might think, instead by the National Park Service itself. Signs telling us what activities we could and couldn't do, pointing out to us where to camp, where to collect water and how far we had to go. Pristine paths led to shiny new bridges, everything appeared so ‘safe’. To me the park seemed over managed to the point of the destruction of Its wilderness qualities. R. Yorke Edward, a Canadian
Throughout time the term 'Wilderness' has meant different things for people. One settler in the early 1600s stated, 'Wilderness is a dark and dismal place where all manner of wild beasts dash about uncooked.' Today, with
the comforts of modern life to return to, we have learnt to value what is left of the world's wilderness areas. America’s 1964 Wilderness Act defines wilderness as,
‘A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. ’
Wyoming is a state that stands at the forefront of conservation
and preservation of the world's wilderness areas. Yellowstone National Park, covering the Northwest corner of Wyoming with its steaming geysers,
was, In 1872, the first national park in the world to be established. Since then many more areas have been given National Park status throughout America, not least in Wyoming which is the least populous state in the Lower 48. Does, however, the National Park Service, with its tight controls and rigorous management, undermine the wilderness qualities that people value in these areas?
In late August and early September Leeds UOTC, led by Tania Noakes, ran a climbing and trekking expedition in Wyoming, USA. I was to lead the trekking group on two 8 day treks in the Wind
Ihe cirque of the Towers.
8 ARMY MOUNTAINEER