Title:
Providing Education, Research and Leadership to Ensure Sustainability of Wilderness Resources and Values in Alaska
Proposed by: Dr. Alan Watson, Dr. Lilian Alessa, Connie Myers
Seconded by: Brian Glaspell

WHEREAS,

In the circumpolar north, there remain today many local cultures that maintain relatively intact relationships with vast pristine ecosystems that are protected as wilderness or could be protected as wilderness;

Protection of these areas is crucial to assure sustainability of these cultures and the wilderness resources on which they and their identities depend, and for their unique biodiversity and economic values;

Alaskan wilderness areas were established by special legislation that ensures the rights of local people for continued access, but also assures the people of the U.S. that wilderness values will dominate in management decisions;

These areas are also receiving increasing attention from, and may be threatened by, economic development interests such as rapidly increasing ecotourism and potential energy development;

Over 50% of the U.S. National Wilderness Preservation System is located in Alaska, but there remain over 80 million acres of roadless public land in Alaska that are not protected as wilderness;

Many protected areas have outdated plans which do not adequately address how biodiversity and economic values will be encouraged while supporting traditional means of livelihood and relationships with nature;

THEREFORE, the 7^th World Wilderness Congress:

Applauds the wilderness scientists, managers, educators, native representatives, non-governmental organizations and government officials from across the polar north countries (Norway, Finland, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Russia and the U.S.) who came together in May of 2001 in Anchorage, Alaska, to determine the priorities for protecting wilderness places of the north.

Supports the priorities they agreed upon, including the need for a center of excellence in Alaska to provide focus and leadership on northern wilderness issues;

Agrees that such a center would provide continued coordination for identifying high priority research issues, provide guidance in accomplishing science needs, be a repository for research reports, management plans and data sets, be a source of the highest integrity for input to decisions about wilderness allocation and management, and a source of energy and coordinated resources in undertaking education and interpretation regarding the many values associated with northern wilderness; and hereby
 

RESOLVES, that

Encourage the People of Alaska, through their University System and in cooperation with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute and the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center, to recognize the needs of ALL people of Alaska and ALL people of the rest of the U.S. by facilitating development of the University of Alaska Wildland Center. This Center should be directed through cooperation among the native people of Alaska, academic and government scientists, nongovernmental organizations, energy and economic development interests, and public land managers and planners, striving toward meeting the needs for science and education in Alaska as an example and as a source of information and inspiration for the circumpolar north; and

Further recommends that this important venture be a high priority of the University System of Alaska, state/national/international foundations and nongovernmental organizations with interest in wilderness, public land management agencies, energy development corporations, and the commercial recreation industry.

Proposed by:

Dr. Alan Watson
Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (Missoula, Montana) and Fulbright Scholar to the Artic Centre of the University of Lapland (Rovaniemi, Finland)

Dr. Lilian Alessa of the University of Alaska (Anchorage, Alaska);

Connie Myers, Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center (Missoula, Montana)

Seconded by:

Brian Glaspell, lifetime resident of Alaska, Alaska wilderness scientist, and an educator on wilderness monitoring issues.

Contact information:
Dr. Alan Watson, Leopold Institute, Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807, USA (awatson@fs.fed.us)
Dr. Lilian Alessa, Department of Biology, Science Building, Room 228, 3211 Providence Drive,
Anchorage, Alaska 99508-8104 USA (afla@uaa.alaska.edu)
Ms. Connie Myers, Carhart Training Center, Continuing Education Building, University of Montana,
Missoula, MT 59807 USA (cmyers@fs.fed.us)
Mr. Brian Glaspell, Leopold Institute, Box 8089, Missoula, MT 59807, USA (bglaspell@fs.fed.us)