An anniversary...and a new mantra

Labor Day is here!!!! I have learned a new fact. 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Wilderness Act. I find that my most peaceful times, my most collected times where I feel closer to a higher power have been on hikes, on climbs, on sitting in the edge of a rock ledge looking out over vast wilderness. Today I am grateful for the 1964 Wilderness Act that was created to protect nearly 110 million acres of wilderness areas from coast to coast of our great country.  You might be wondering what the Wilderness Act truly is and why it was created??

What was The Wilderness Act created for?
The Wilderness Act is considered one of America’s greatest conservation achievements. The act created our National Wilderness Preservation System and provided the means for Americans to induct unspoiled areas into the system and utilized this tool to contribute a total of 109 million acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Here's what the Wilderness Act does:

• Created a way for Congress and Americans to designate "wilderness areas," which represent the nation's highest form of land protection. No roads, vehicles or permanent structures are allowed in designated wilderness. A wilderness designation also prohibits activities like logging or mining. It takes like 8 or 9 years to just get recognition and installation of these areas through Congress...but then again...what does Congress do that doesn't take like FOREVER to get something accomplished. HA HA  HA!!!
• Created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which provides management of the nation’s protected wilderness areas and works to maintain them.
• Set aside 9.1 million acres of wild American lands into the National Wilderness Preservation System, protecting them as designated wilderness and opened them up to public consumption without transportation on most of them. I love this. I am grateful that my main man Theodore Roosevelt for beginning this movement. He created the US Forestry Service and established 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 4 National Game Preserves, 150 National Forests, 5 National Parks, and signed into law the 1906 American Antiquities Act which he used to proclaim 18 National Monuments. During his presidency,Theodore Roosevelt protected approximately 230,000,000 acres of public land.

It has been estimated that millions and millions of Americans enjoy wilderness areas for hiking, camping, backpacking, fishing and more. The Wilderness Act continues to protect unspoiled wild lands with the possibility of new designations each year. And for this I am grateful.


One of my goals in the coming future is to get more connected with nature and head out into the great unknown. I do love this...its just been awhile since I have done stuff like this...and so it's time...It's time to shake it up a bit and get out there on those weekends to breathe and relax and reconnect...cause from the looks of it...gonna be a hectic BUSY fall season.