But spending some time in the wilderness, usually reveals that this is not a place to fear but a place of wonder, beauty and enjoyment that should be respected. Healthy Ecology at Work Defenders of wilderness note that humans need wildlands as examples of unhindered, healthy ecological processes. Humans have altered the landscape so drastically that wilderness provides a necessary yardstick with which to measure the damage. For instance, intact wilderness plant and animal communities can help us measure the accelerating loss of biodiversity through species extinction. While wilderness helps us gauge our destructiveness, it also works to mitigate the damage.
Wild areas filter air and water, break down waste, recycle nutrients, and generate soil.
Forests all over the world are carbon dioxide sinks, helping to balance man's increasing release of greenhouse gases in to the atmosphere, possibly moderating extreme weather and climatic fluctuations. It provides the single starting-point, to which man returns again and again to organize yet another search for a durable scale of values. For Americans there is a clear relationship between wilderness and freedom. The wild frontier symbolized freedom from the restraints and confines of civilization. Preserving wilderness indicates a conscious decision to value the resources it harbors or do without others it might contain.