The Key West Citizen

Wilderness Quality

A veteran conservationist from Missouri recently delivered himself of a vigorous kick in the pants against the idea that everything, including wildlife and wilderness areas, can properly be judged on the basis of dollar values. He is Dan Saults, assistant director of the Missouri Conservation Commission, and in his opinion "we cannot think clearly about conservation if we measure worth only in dollars, because there is no 'profit' in plotting mankind's future."

This view, the thoughtful opinion of a man who has been concerned with the problems of conservation of natural resources for a long time, is worth the attention of anyone who feels even the rudiments of such concern. For there is a real danger that the dollar sign will come to overshadow other considerations in this field if steps are not taken to avoid that.

Listen to Saults: "We justify the existence of wildlife species because of cash expended by those who would shoot or catch such species, and condemn to destruction as "trash" other varieties of wildlife which command no dollar appraisal. We seek for the 'worth' of wilderness and find no credits unless it be open for tourist travel—which is to say that it's then no longer a wilderness."

These rather harsh words are no less than the truth in many parts of this country, despite the efforts of men dedicated to the idea that we should preserve for future generations as much as we can of the natural heritage that was ours. If society ignores this concept, or allows it to become warped by the idea of dollar value, the few remaining primitive areas in the continental United States will soon be gone. That will be a sad day for all who understand that a wilderness region has qualities and values which no park or managed area can match.