About the 

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cares for about 245 million 

acres of federally owned public lands, mainly in the Western United 

States and Alaska. These lands, representing about one-eighth of 

our nation’s land area, belong to all Americans. In addition, the 

BLM administers 700 million acres of mineral estate across the 

entire country. 

Public lands are used for many purposes. They support local 

economies, providing Americans with coal, oil and gas, forest 

products, livestock forage, and other commodities. As a haven 

for plants and wildlife, they play a critical role in habitat and 

resource conservation efforts. They embrace some of our country’s 

most important historical, archaeological, and paleontological 

sites. Open spaces on public lands offer places for people to 

play, learn, and explore. In recent years, some BLM lands have 

been designated as part of the National Landscape Conservation 

System, a network of lands afforded special status and managed 

almost exclusively to conserve their scientific, cultural, educational, 

ecological, and other values.

The BLM is responsible for managing public lands under the 

principles of multiple use and sustained yield in a manner that 

best meets the current and future needs of the public. With so 

many resources and uses, the BLM’s job is challenging. Thankfully, 

countless partners, volunteers, and communities provide invaluable 

support, helping the agency carry out its stewardship mission. To 

learn more about your public lands and how you can get involved, 

visit http://www.blm.gov.
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Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

For the 

Teacher

Overview

In this activity, students examine excerpts from 

an article titled “The Need for Wilderness 

Areas,” which is about the value of preserving 

wilderness. Students then compare the article 

to some of the language in the 1964 Wilderness 

Act. The article is by Howard Zahniser, who is 

also the act’s main author.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to (1) explain why the 

Wilderness Act of 1964 was passed; 

(2) compare passages from an article 

advocating the act to an excerpt from the act; 

and (3) assess arguments about the relationship 

between wilderness and civilization.

Teacher 

Preparation

1. Make enough copies of “Wilderness 

Classroom Investigation” Handouts 1 

and 2 for each student, and provide 

chart paper and markers for up to eight 

small groups.

2. Read the “Background Information” 

to become familiar with some of the 

events leading up to the passage of the 

Wilderness Act.

Common Core 

Connections

This activity addresses the following Common 

Core English Language Arts Standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support 

analysis of primary and secondary sources, 

connecting insights gained from specific 

details to an understanding of the text as a 

whole.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2

Determine the central ideas or information 

of a primary or secondary source; provide 

an accurate summary that makes clear the 

relationships among the key details and 

ideas.

This activity also addresses the following 

enduring understanding:

• Wilderness areas provide numerous 

benefits to natural ecosystems and to 

people.

Essential Questions:

• Why should the United States protect 

wilderness?

• Is legislation the best way to protect 

wilderness?

Time Estimate:

One to two 45-minute class periods
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Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Background 

Information

The article titled “Howard Zahniser: Author of 

the Wilderness Act” (http://www.wilderness.

net/NWPS/zahniser) provides some historical 

context for the article by Zahniser that students 

will analyze for this lesson. Below are some 

important highlights from “Howard Zahniser: 

Author of the Wilderness Act.”

Early Days

• By the 1920s, supporters of wilderness 

preservation began to succeed at having 

some forest areas designated as wilderness. 

An example is the Gila Wilderness in New 

Mexico, designated in 1924.

• It was fairly easy for federal agencies to 

designate areas as wilderness, but it was 

also easy for opponents of wilderness 

designations to revoke them later.

• So Zahniser and his allies wanted a law 

that would involve Congress in selecting 

areas for more permanent designation.

• Advocates for the Wilderness Act received 

little support from Congress until the 1960s. 

Some federal agencies preferred to keep 

the power to designate wilderness areas to 

themselves, rather than involve Congress.

A Success and A Strategy

• In 1955, Zahniser and his allies stopped the 

proposed Echo Park Dam from being built 

in northwestern Colorado. This successful 

campaign showed them the importance 

of affecting public opinion and generating 

letters to Congress from numerous people 

and groups.

• Zahniser and his allies started journals and 

partnered with other groups to promote a 

wilderness bill. The Living Wilderness was 

the key journal, and Zahniser was its editor. 

“The Need for Wilderness Areas” was a 

seminal article that rallied public opinion 

behind a wilderness bill.

• By 1964, the bill’s advocates had secured 

the support of powerful committee 

chairmen in Congress, such as Democratic 

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota 

and Republican Representative John P. 

Saylor of Pennsylvania, and both houses 

passed the bill that President Lyndon B. 

Johnson signed on September 3, 1964 (the 

margins were 373-1 in the House and 73-12 

in the Senate).

Like most laws, the Wilderness Act of 1964 took 

a long time to make it into the U.S. Code. It 

started as an idea discussed by conservationists 

decades before becoming a law. Leaders and 

writers such as Theodore Roosevelt and John 

Muir used articles, photos, and speeches to 

educate the public about the importance of 

parks, wildlife refuges, and forest preserves. 

Zahniser thought the best way to promote 

a wilderness law was to combine public 

awareness with advocacy by large numbers 

of groups, so he wrote articles and led the 

Wilderness Society, a large membership 

organization. He also drafted more than 60 

versions of the bill that Congress debated, and 

he visited congressional offices repeatedly to 

lobby for it. The entire Wilderness Act can be 

found here:

http://www.wilderness.net/NWPS/legisAct

In this activity, students will read and discuss 

selections from “The Need for Wilderness 

Areas,” which appeared in the 1956-57 issue of 

the journal The Living Wilderness. To read the 
3

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

whole article, follow this link (the document is in 

the appendix under Howard Zahniser):

http://www.wilderness.net/index.

cfm?fuse=toolboxes&sec=awareness#

For additional background, a timeline of land 

conservation policy in the 20th century can be 

found at the link below. Some of the key events 

in the timeline include efforts to preserve 

historic sites, the Everglades, wilderness areas, 

and forests, as well as to regulate pesticides 

and the disposal of chemical pollution.

http://www.nps.gov/mabi/historyculture/

conservation-timeline-1901-2000.htm

Procedure

This activity features a mix of 

individual work, small group work, and 

whole-class discussion. In brief, students will 

complete the following tasks:

• Imagine what they would see and hear in 

a wilderness area, and write down their 

expectations.

• Develop a definition of wilderness.

• Compare their definition to each other’s 

definitions and to the one in the Wilderness 

Act. Also, discuss prohibited activities in 

wilderness areas.

• Individually, read excerpts from Zahniser’s 

article, and write responses to questions.

• In small groups, discuss excerpts from the 

article and responses to questions.

• As a whole class, debrief the conversations.

• View pictures of wilderness areas, and 

compare these images to what they 

expected wilderness to look like at the 

beginning of the activity.

Present the following detailed steps to the 

students:

1. Hook: Ask students to imagine they are in 

the middle of a wilderness area. Ask them 

to write a short list of what they see and 

hear. Then ask them to write another list of 

what they would not see and hear in the 

wilderness that they would see and hear in 

their home communities.

2. Individual writing: Ask students to 

individually write their own definitions of 

wilderness and underline the two most 

important concepts in their definitions.

3. Group task 1: Ask students to share their 

two most important concepts with the rest 

of their group. One student in each group 

should write everyone’s two concepts on 

chart paper. Then, ask the groups to create 

a consensus definition of wilderness that 

includes everyone’s concepts. (Groups 

might not reach an exact consensus, but 

all group definitions should include each 

student’s two most important concepts.)

4. Whole-class discussion: Ask a 

spokesperson from each group to report 

their consensus definition to the whole 

class. Ask students to comment on 

the similarities of the definitions. Hand 

out copies of “Wilderness Classroom 

Investigation, Handout 1” to each student. 

Ask students to compare the definition 

of wilderness from the Wilderness Act of 

1964 to their definitions. Ask students to 

read the paragraph from the act regarding 

prohibited activities, and create lists of 

the activities they think are permitted and 

prohibited in wilderness areas. Ask students 

to compare the lists.
4

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Note: If the activity is broken up into two 

sessions, this is an ideal stopping point until 

the next session. Also, to save time during 

session 2, students could complete the 

questions in step 5 for homework.

5. Individual reading: Distribute “Wilderness 

Classroom Investigation, Handout 2,” and 

instruct students to read the excerpts and 

write responses to the discussion questions.

6. Group task 2: Place students into their 

groups, and instruct them to talk with each 

other about their answers to the discussion 

questions.

7. Whole-class debriefing: Reconfigure the 

class into one unit, and ask spokespeople 

about the discussion questions. Ask for 

comments about:

• What they thought was Zahniser’s 

most effective argument in favor of a 

Wilderness Act.

• Which, if any, of his arguments they 

found weak or ineffective.

• Who might oppose the Wilderness 

Act and what arguments opponents 

would use.

• What, if any, additional arguments 

they would have used to promote the 

passage of the Wilderness Act. 

8. To conclude, show photos of BLM 

wilderness areas, such as the ones found 

here: http://mypubliclands.tumblr.com/

tagged/wilderness. Ask students to 

compare the photos to how they imagined 

wilderness areas would look.

Assessment

• Ask students to write what they 

think wilderness is a metaphor for, 

and ask them to develop a poem, 

story, or multimedia presentation 

on why wilderness is important and 

what it means to them.

• Assign an explanatory essay on the 

question: Why have a Wilderness Act? It 

should include historical context of the 

Wilderness Act, benefits of wilderness, 

arguments raised in opposition of passing 

the act, and contemporary consequences of 

designating wilderness.
5

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Adaptations 

to Consider • In step 4, read “The Oxford English 

Dictionary” definition of wilderness: “an 

uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable 

region.” Ask students to compare this to 

their definitions and to Zahniser’s.

• Ask students to research wilderness 

areas that may be in the state or region, 

addressing questions such as when the area 

was designated, who wanted it designated, 

and who opposed designating it and why.

• Hold a classroom debate on the merits of a 

Wilderness Act.

• Ask students to read Article I, Section 8, of 

the Constitution, and identify which power 

Congress used to pass the Wilderness Act.

Evidence-Based Responses to Student 

Discussion Questions in Handout 2

1. What kinds of human needs are supported 

by wilderness areas? [Spiritual, emotional, 

educational, recreational.] How does 

Zahniser support his view that wilderness 

is a fundamental human need? [The idea 

of wilderness is man’s own concept. The 

preservation of wilderness is a purpose 

that arises out of man’s own sense of his 

fundamental needs.] Do you think he is 

right? Support your answer with evidence 

from the article and other evidence as 

needed. [Various]

2. How does Zahniser argue that preserving 

wilderness helps preserve civilization? 

[Civilization depends on the resources 

extracted from wilderness areas and on 

wilderness as a retreat from hectic modern 

life.] How well does Zahniser support his 

claim that destroying wilderness would 

threaten civilization? [Wilderness sustains 

us, and we create civilization.] Do you agree 

with him? Why do you think he argues that 

wilderness has to be saved in order to save 

civilization? [Various]

3. What groups might object to the following 

being prohibited in wilderness areas: 

permanent and temporary roads, structures, 

motorized vehicles and equipment, and 

commercial enterprises? [Various, possibly 

homebuilders, mining companies, all-terrain 

vehicle riders, loggers, tourism industries.]

4. What is paradoxical about the lessons 

wilderness teaches modern people? [It 

shows we are both dependent on other life 

and must survive independently of modern 

services and conveniences.] In what ways 

are modern people both independent and 

interdependent? [Various]
6

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

5. The Wilderness Act says that wilderness 

areas are “where man himself is a visitor 

who does not remain.” The article says 

“with the wilderness we are at home.” How 

do you think Zahniser would argue that 

these two statements do not contradict 

each other? [The second statement is 

metaphorical and the first is literal.] Do you 

think they are contradictory? [Various]

6. Why do you think Zahniser focuses on how 

wilderness areas benefit humans instead of 

how wilderness is valuable for its own sake? 

[Various, possibly appealing to people’s 

self-interest as more likely to resonate with 

voters and interest groups.]
Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Wilderness 

Classroom 

Investigation, 

Handout 1

Instructions:

• Read the definition of wilderness from the 

Wilderness Act of 1964, and compare this 

definition with the groups’ definitions.

• Read the paragraph regarding prohibited 

activities, and write a list of activities you 

think are allowed and a list of activities you 

think are prohibited in wilderness areas.

Excerpts from the Wilderness 

Act of 1964

Section 2(c), Definition of Wilderness:

“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 its community of 

life are untrammeled by man, where man 

himself is a visitor who does not remain. 

An area of wilderness is further defined to 

mean in this Act an area of undeveloped 

Federal land retaining its primeval 

character and influence, without permanent 

improvements or human habitation, which 

is protected and managed so as to preserve 

its natural conditions and which (1) generally 

appears to have been affected primarily 

by the forces of nature, with the imprint of 

man’s work substantially unnoticeable; (2) 

has outstanding opportunities for solitude 

or a primitive and unconfined type of 

recreation; (3) has at least five thousand 

acres of land or is of sufficient size as to 

make practicable its preservation and use 

in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may 

also contain ecological, geological, or other 

features of scientific, educational, scenic, or 

historical value.”

Section 4(c), Prohibition of Certain Uses:

“Except as specifically provided for in this 

Act, and subject to existing private rights, 

there shall be no commercial enterprise and 

no permanent road within any wilderness 

area designated by this Act and, except as 

necessary to meet minimum requirements 

for the administration of the area for the 

purpose of this Act (including measures 

required in emergencies involving the 

health and safety of persons within the 

area), there shall be no temporary road, no 

use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment 

or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no 

other form of mechanical transport, and no 

structure or installation within any such area.”

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Wilderness 

Classroom 

Investigation, 

Handout 2

Instructions:

• Read the selections from the article by 

Howard Zahniser.

• Read the discussion questions and write 

down your responses to them.

• Discuss your responses to the questions 

with the other students in your small group.

Excerpts from “The Need for 

Wilderness Areas” by Howard 

Zahniser (1956)

I believe that at least in the present phase 

of our civilization we have a profound, a 

fundamental need for areas of wilderness—a 

need that is not only recreational and spiritual 

but also educational and scientific, and withal 

essential to a true understanding of ourselves, 

our culture, our own natures, and our place in 

all nature.

This need is for areas of the earth within which 

we stand without our mechanisms that make 

us immediate masters over our environment—

areas of wild nature in which we sense ourselves 

to be, what in fact I believe we are, dependent 

members of an interdependent community 

of living creatures that together derive their 

existence from the sun.

By very definition this wilderness is a need. The 

idea of wilderness as an area without man’s 

influence is man’s own concept. Its values are 

human values. Its preservation is a purpose 

that arises out of man’s own sense of his 

fundamental needs.

...

Paradoxically, the wilderness which thus teaches 

modern man his dependence on the whole 

community of life can also teach him a needed 

personal independence—an ability to care for 

himself, to carry his own burdens, to provide his 

own fuel, prepare his own food, furnish his own 

shelter, make his own bed, and—perhaps most 

remarkable of all—transport himself by walking.

...

We are a part of the wildness of the universe. 

That is our nature. Our noblest, happiest 

character develops with the influence of 

wildness. Away from it we degenerate into the 

squalor of slums or the frustration of clinical 

couches. With the wilderness we are at home.

...

This is not a disparagement of our civilization—

no disparagement at all—but rather an 

admiration of it to the point of perpetuating it. 

We like the beef from the cattle grazed on the 

public domain. We relish the vegetables from 

the lands irrigated by virtue of the Bureau of 

Reclamation. We carry in our packs aluminum 

manufactured with the help of hydroelectric 

power from great reservoirs. We motor happily 

on paved highways to the approaches of our 

wilderness. We journey in streamlined trains 

and in transcontinental airplanes to conferences 

on wilderness preservation. We nourish and 

refresh our minds from books manufactured 
Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

out of the pulp of our forests. We enjoy the 

convenience and comfort of our way of living—

urban, village, and rural. And we want this 

civilization to endure and to be enjoyed on and 

on by healthy, happy citizens.

It is this civilization, this culture, this way of 

living that will be sacrificed if our wilderness 

is lost. What sacrifice!

...

It behooves us then to do two things: First we 

must see that an adequate system of wilderness 

areas is designed for preservation, and then 

we must allow nothing to alter the wilderness 

character of the preserves.

Discussion Questions

1. What kinds of human needs are supported by wilderness areas? How does Zahniser support 

his view that wilderness is a fundamental human need? Do you think he is right? Support your 

answer with evidence from the article and other evidence as needed.

2. How does Zahniser argue that preserving wilderness helps preserve civilization? How well 

does Zahniser support his claim that destroying wilderness would threaten civilization? Do you 

agree with him? Why do you think he argues that wilderness has to be saved in order to save 

civilization?

3. What groups might object to the following being prohibited in wilderness areas: permanent 

and temporary roads, structures, motorized vehicles and equipment, and commercial 

enterprises?

4. What is paradoxical about the lessons wilderness teaches modern people? In what ways are 

modern people both independent and interdependent?

5. The Wilderness Act says that wilderness areas are “where man himself is a visitor who does 

not remain.” The article says “with the wilderness we are at home.” How do you think Zahniser 

would argue that these two statements do not contradict each other? Do you think they are 

contradictory?

6. Why do you think Zahniser focuses on how wilderness areas benefit humans instead of how 

wilderness is valuable for its own sake? 
11

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Notes:
12

Classroom Investigation Series, WILDERNESS

Notes:
This publication was produced by the Division of Education, 

Interpretation, and Partnerships at the Bureau of Land Management, 

U.S. Department of the Interior. Production services were provided 

by the BLM’s National Operations Center, Information and 

Publishing Services Section. 

Visit www.blm.gov/education to explore the BLM’s resources 

for educators. 

September 2014