Monumental Questions - What is National Wilderness Month?

Exploring Cedar Roughs Wilderness in Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the 1964 Wilderness Act which created the National Wilderness Preservation System. At that time, there were 54 designated wilderness areas in 13 states encompassing 9.1 million acres. Included in the Wilderness Act is this wonderful definition of wilderness:
“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” – Howard Zahniser
Since 1964, Congress has designated more than 111 million acres of land in more than 800 wilderness areas. Twenty years after the passage of the Wilderness Act, 1984 is the year in which the most new wilderness areas were created.
In addition to providing us with places to remove ourselves from the day-to-day busyness, designated wilderness areas help protect us against climate change, help reduce natural disasters, and provide a refuge for biodiversity. Forests help offset a portion of greenhouse gas emissions, native grasslands and wetlands retain water to lessen the impacts of floods and offering relief for droughts.
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument includes three wilderness areas – Snow Mountain Wilderness, Cedar Roughs Wilderness, and Cache Creek Wilderness. Snow Mountain Wilderness is located in the Mendocino National Forest and encompasses over 60,000 acres of subalpine forest and chaparral. Cedar Roughs Wilderness is west of Lake Berryessa and is the smallest of the three wilderness areas at 6,287 acres. It includes many different ecosystems including stands of Sargent Cypress (Hesperocyparis sargentii). In 2006, 27,294 acres in eastern Lake County were designated as Cache Creek Wilderness. Cache Creek flows through the wilderness and is bordered by oak woodlands. If you’re observant while in the wilderness, you may spot a herd of tule elk (Cervus canadensis nannodes).
September is National Wilderness Month. Wilderness areas are great places to reconnect to nature and to sit back and relax (bring your own chair).
-Nate Lillge (nlillge@tuleyome.org)
Tuleyome Adventures and Engagement Director
Certified California Naturalist
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