Wilderness: Promises, Poetry, and Pragmatism

Lecture given by Dr. Jay D. Hair, President of the National Wildlife Federation. Introduction by Dr. Edwin E. Krumpe, Director of the University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center. The lecture opens by touching on three aspects of the wilderness debate: Promises, Poetry, and Pragmatism. The promises section opens with the history of The Wilderness Act, and how it is only until recently that wilderness has been viewed as ""a vital part of civilization"". The poetry section looks to shed light on why we need wilderness using excerpts of poetry from two poets. The last section, pragmatism, explains how the problems of conserving wilderness are growing more complex and so our perspectives should grow as well. Mass exctinction is addressed as a large problem, and not just a poetic problem, a pragmatic one, that affects the scientific community, not to mention the economy. An example of scientific research is given to emphasize the importance of long term scientific research. Statistics are shared to highlight the global pharmaceutical industries releiance on wilderness, and Idaho's dependence on wilderness to fuel the local tourism industry. Emphasis is laid, once again, on the importance of long term scientific research in wilderness. The lecture compares President John Kennedy's push to land a man on the moon to the possibility of creating an inventory of the earth's resources. The lecture continues with a challenge to ask the right questions when doing research, to organize our efforts and relate the research to other science and socioeconomic research, forming a complete picture. Lastly the lecture challanges us to have a new attitude towards research, to let it be chaotic, controversial, and moved into the sphere of politics and lawmaking quickly. Bibliography included. The last page holds a promotion for the Wilderness Research Center