All this month conservationists have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the country’s most monumental laws to protect and preserve our rich natural heritage — the Wilderness Act, signed into law on Sept. 3, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The law confers the highest protection possible on scenic and ecologically important wild areas within our national forests, national parks and other federal lands. Only Congress can designate wilderness areas, from which roads, development, logging and mining are banned.
As the statute states: “A wilderness is an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”
Georgia’s 14 wilderness areas range from coastal barrier islands to rugged peaks in the Chattahoochee National Forest. They are:
• Blood Mountain Wilderness (7,800 acres). Home to one of the most heavily used segments of the Appalachian Trail.
• Brasstown Wilderness (12,896 acres). Rugged slopes drape across the flanks of 4,784-foot Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest peak.
• Cohutta Wilderness (35,268 acres). The Jacks and Conasauga rivers, which are premier trout streams, run through it.
• Ellicott Rock Wilderness (2,021 acres). Straddles the Chattooga, declared a wild and scenic river.
• Mark Trail Wilderness (16,400 acres). Some of Chattahoochee River’s headwaters flow through it.
• Raven Cliffs Wilderness (9,115 acres). Numerous streams and waterfalls.
• Rich Mountain Wilderness (9,476 acres). Rich botanical area.
• Southern Nantahala Wilderness (11,700 acres). In the Blue Ridge Mountains.
• Tray Mountain Wilderness (9,702 acres). Dominated by 4,430-toot-tall Tray Mountain,
• Big Frog Wilderness (89 acres). Part of an 8,082-acre wilderness lying mostly in Tennessee.
• Okefenokee Wilderness (353,981 acres). World-famous wetland.
• Blackbeard Island Wilderness (3,000 acres). Coastal wildlife haven.
• Wolf Island Wilderness (5,126 acres). Migratory bird sanctuary.
• Cumberland Island Wilderness (9,886 acres). Great expanses of maritime forest and salt marsh.
In the sky: The moon will be in first quarter Wednesday, said David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. Mercury is low in the west around dusk. Mars is in the west at sunset and will appear near the moon Monday. Jupiter is low in the east just before sunrise. Saturn is low in the west just after dark, sets in the west before 9 p.m., and will appear near the moon Sunday.
About the Author
