December, 2002
This IJW features an article by Stephen Mills on how the Sierra Club reaches “Beyond the Borders” with its new international programs in Southern Africa, Mexico and the Ashoka fellows program. In the international perspectives section, Stephen Siebert and Jill Belsky discuss the important role of local food production in livelihood security and why protected area managers need to be aware of these issues. In the news and announcements section, WILD announces its WILD Awards program, recognizing companies who use wild images in advertising and also support the protection of wild nature – in an way, paying royalties for the use of these images.
Garry Oye and others provide personal perspectives on the new wilderness recreation strategy for the National Forest System in a special stewardship feature. The working partnership between the Bureau of Land Management and the Student Conservation Association to restore wilderness in the California desert is explained by Dave Wash and Kate Wash. Chad Dawson remembers the work, leadership and passion of Bob Marshall, and John Shultis reviews For the Health of the Land by Aldo Leopold (J. Baird Callicott and Eric T. Freyfogle, eds).
Michael Frome contributes a moving piece for Soul of the Wilderness, discussing the wilderness as a sanctuary for us and future generations: “Wilderness areas are not playgrounds, nor theme parks, but sanctuaries, meant to be forever.” Franco Zunino contributes an international perspective on his work to bring the concept of wild nature to Italy and the mountainous wilderness landscape he and partners work to protect.
In this issue of the journal, Alan Watson contributes perspectives from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute on the wilderness values in the circumpolar north. Tarun Chhabra contributes an international perspective in his article on the Toda people of the upper Nilgiri plateau in southern India. The Toda culture has a rich and sacred connection to wild nature, specifically the buffalo and its milk and the wildland plants used in rituals, medicine and daily activities. The Wilderness Digest section announced the Bureau of Land Management primitive skills team winning the first Corrigall Wilderness Stewardship award.
In this issue of the IJW, Kevin Proescholdt presents events and milestones of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, the most visited unit in the US National Wilderness Preservation System. David Parsons contributes to the Wilderness Digest with News from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. Parsons describes how science is essential for understanding and managing wilderness areas, and in turn how wilderness provides opportunities to scientifically explore (relatively) pristine areas.
In this issue’s Soul of the Wilderness article, David Cole addresses the conflicting, desirable and important values of wilderness: wild, natural, un-crowded and free. John Shultis contributes commentary on how humans, while ultimately fearing that technology will destroy man-kind, increasingly rely on technological innovations to enjoy wilderness experiences. Ken Cordell and Jerry Stokes provide a perspective from the Forest Service on the social value of wilderness.