The first paper is A Common Sense Criterion in the Evaluation of Wilderness. Therein Dr. Schickedanz states:
Straight lines are contrary to nature—they are the product of humans. There are few examples of straight lines occurring in nature. Nature has a pattern, but it generally does not revolve around straight lines. Straight lines are generally from the handiwork of humans. Examples of human-made straight lines occurring in the landscape include fences, towers, corrals, pipelines, dams, dirt tanks, transmission lines, vegetation changes due to ripping the ground for pipelines, and roads.
Straight lines can come from roads (maintained or not), “two tracks,” or “ways” that are human-made and generally follow straight lines. The presence of the straight line is not dependent on whether the route is maintained or not. The persistence of the straight line is often permanent and can be seen from a distance. The final disposition of a road is very important in defining the boundary of a wilderness area because there cannot be permanent roads in a wilderness. Land areas being considered with “two tracks” and “ways” are included in the inventory because they are not mechanically maintained; however, the presence of their straight lines is detracting from the naturalness and must be recognized.
Straight lines are also used in detection of unnatural items. Aerial surveillance uses the detection of edges (straight lines) to detect human-made objects (Hazeldene and Price, 2017). Sonar detection looks for unnatural shapes (straight lines, geometric shapes) when looking for ships, submarines and other human-made objects in the ocean (Mosby, 2015). When looking at photographs, our eyes naturally follow lines (Shaw, 2017).
Humans like straight lines; however, in the natural setting that is the basis for wilderness, they should not be allowed. The straight line should become a primary reason for disallowing wilderness recommendations or including these areas to be classified as lands with wilderness characteristics.
In the second publication, CHECK LIST: Lands with Multiple Use and Wilderness Characteristics Inventory, Dr. Schickedanz provides a handy list for the evaluation of the presence or absents of presence of wilderness characteristics. This provides a step-by-step process for anyone commenting on Wilderness or Lands With Wilderness Characteristics proposals.
Both reports can be accessed at the links provided above.
1 comment:
There might be some straight lines made by livestock trailing into water tanks. The whole concept of "wilderness" as described by Leopold is really non-existent in New Mexico. Basically the average wilderness user who is hiking for a couple of days is not going to leave a marked trail. So roaming the wilderness as Leopold seems to say is not something the townee is going to do. And, when they leave the trail they usually get lost and require someone to find them. Most trail huggers really complain then any dead fall is on a trail, writing letters to their congressmen as to how poorly the wilderness area is being managed. The idea of land left out in "error" from the original wilderness designation areas really rings hollow IMO. Inclusion of lightly used areas there two track roads were said to be O.K. was just another attempt by the greenies to throw more land into wilderness designation. To say otherwise is to ignore the effort to curtail all types of agricultural productivity on federal lands. In answer to Dr. Jerry's common sense approach there is no common sense when dealing with greenies.
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