Wilderness and the American Mind

“The value system of primitive man was structured in terms of survival. He appreciated what contributed to his well-being and feared what he did not control or understand.”

Nash presents a basic evolutionary explanation for why humans came to view wilderness as a threat. The legacy of this thinking existed well into the founding of the US.

“Wilderness had no place in the paradise myth.”

Nash is referring to the Garden of Eden story from Genesis in the Old Testament. Wilderness, because of the uncertainty it contained and the apparent chaos it represented, contrasted with the vision of a garden that sheltered and protected humanity.

“In the morality play of westward expansion, wilderness was the villain, and the pioneer, as hero, relished its destruction.”

A legacy of colonial Puritanism, the adversarial relationship between humans and their environment played out as a battle of good versus evil. For pioneers, the needs of survival supported this view.

“Under wilderness conditions the veneer civilization laid over the barbaric elements in man seemed much thinner than in the settled regions.”

Early Americans, borrowing from their Puritan forebears, tended to equate wilderness traits with wildness in humanity. Thus, anyone whose behavior was considered outside the norm was under suspicion and, by extension, wild.

“Appreciation of wilderness began in the cities. The literary gentleman wielding a pen, not the pioneer with his axe, made the first gestures of resistance against the strong currents of antipathy.”

The relative safety of city life afforded intellectuals the opportunity to consider the relationship with wilderness theoretically. No such safety existed for those whose livelihood depended on direct interaction with an often-harsh wilderness: It did not need people’s protection; people needed protection from it.

“If religion was identified with wilderness rather than opposed to it, as had traditionally been the case, the basis for appreciation, rather than hatred, was created.”

The infusion of a spiritual component into wilderness appreciation was a critical strategy in changing people’s views toward it. Associating it more closely with God made viewing it as antagonistic more difficult.

“Nationalists argued that far from being a liability, wilderness was actually an American asset.”

In the middle of the 19th century, the growing desire to create an American identity led to an examination of how the new country differed from European countries. Because its wilderness differed greatly, nationalist figures infused wilderness into the American identity.

“For Thoreau wilderness was a reservoir of wildness vitally important for keeping the spark of the wild alive in man.”

Thoreau did not see the wild in humanity as a negative force; instead, he viewed it as something to celebrate and embrace. Conquering the wilderness meant also conquering the vitality it offered humanity.

“Going to the outward, physical wilderness was highly conducive to an inward journey.”

Thoreau believed that venturing into the wilderness vitally enhanced the inward journey. In his view, the possibilities for self-discovery and spiritual awakening were limitless when humanity had access to the wilderness.

“The best thing the Government could do with the Yellowstone National Park…is to survey it and sell it as other public lands are sold.”

These words were spoken in 1883 by John J. Ingalls, a senator from Kansas. In addition to supporting the sale of Yellowstone land, Ingalls vehemently opposed designating Yosemite Valley as a protected land. The quote shows the antipathy that developers and development-minded politicians directed at the preservation movement and demonstrates the kind of mindset that early preservationists argued against.

“Going to the woods is going home; for I suppose we came from the woods originally.”

In citing this famous John Muir quote, Nash emphasizes Muir’s worldview. In addition, the quote highlights the influence of Transcendentalism on Muir’s thinking.

“At the end of the nineteenth century, cities were regarded with a hostility once reserved for wild forests.”

Nash demonstrates here the point at which the inversion of views toward civilization and the wilderness culminated. Industrialization had created a lifestyle that many at the time realized affected people negatively.

“For the first time in the American experience the competing claims of wilderness and civilization to a specific area received a thorough hearing before a national audience.”

The quote references the Hetch Hetchy controversy. John Muir led the opposition to building the dam. The debate lasted years, and the dam was built, but the awareness that the opposition raised helped generate significant momentum for the preservation movement.

“At every opportunity the proponents of the dam expressed their belief that a lake in Hetch Hetchy would not spoil its beauty but, rather, enhance it.”

This was a common rebuttal to the claim that developing a pristine area would destroy the inherent beauty of it. The argument’s strategy recognizes the value of the opposition but uses an aspect of its claim against it.

“This synthesis of the logic of a scientist with the ethical and aesthetic sensitivity of a Romantic was effective armament for the defense of wilderness.”

Nash refers to Aldo Leopold in this passage. Leopold’s effectiveness as an advocate of wilderness protection came largely from his well-rounded intellectual approach to it, as evident in Nash’s observation.

“A stump was our symbol of progress.”

This quote from Aldo Leopold is highly reminiscent of the Imagistic poetry of his contemporary Ezra Pound. The vivid image of a stump speaks volumes.

“The House mail showed a ratio of those who would keep Dinosaur (Monument) wild to those in favor of the dam of eighty to one.”

Here, Nash refers to the controversy that centered on the proposed construction of a dam at Echo Park, which would have flooded and destroyed Dinosaur National Monument. The House of Representatives received a flood of letters expressing opposition to the dam’s construction, which revealed the tremendous popular support for preserving the park. This popular support heralded a victory for the preservation movement.

“William H. Hunt, head of a Pacific coast lumber company, lashed out in 1971 at the ‘woodsy witchdoctors of a revived ancient nature cult’ who sought to ‘restore our nation’s environment to its disease-ridden, often hungry wilderness stage.’”

In this quote, referring to preservationists, Hunt’s mockery of them is apparent. Hunt and others like him used this ad hominem fallacy to create the preservationist caricature that subsequently marginalized them.

“Over periods of time, deficiencies in life appear—in either the wholly civilized life or a life constantly in the wilderness.”

At its heart, this claim, spoken by John P. Milton, advocates for a balanced view rather than an either/or proposition: Humanity gains the most, Milton posited, when it can access both wilderness and civilization.

“The new driving impulse, based on ecological awareness, transcended concern for the quality of life to fear for life itself. Americans suddenly realized that man is vulnerable.”

The awareness that humans are vulnerable is a relatively modern concept that emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. This passage represents an early bridge between the traditional preservation movement and the environmentalist movement that we see today.

“Dams, mines, and roads are not the basic threat to the wilderness quality of an environment. Civilized people are, and whether they come with economic or recreational motives is, in a sense, beside the point.”

As the preservation movement gained momentum and popularity, an unforeseen consequence was that this popularity generated an increase in the amount of people who took to the wilderness. The new challenge was to find ways to protect the wilderness from people not seeking to destroy or conquer it but to simply use it for recreational purposes.

“The paradox of wilderness management is that the necessary means defeat the desired end.”

Nash points out the irony in the success and popularity of the preservation movement. He raises a question about whether a wilderness is still a wilderness once humans interfere with it to control access to the land.

“The core idea is to use technology, maybe for the first time, to lessen rather than enlarge human impact on the natural world.”

With this idea, Nash introduces his Island Civilization concept. This concept essentially proposes that humans use technology to help maintain restraint and honor our place on Earth by retracting our footprint as a species.