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.~--~--- OC~791 :~ . .', In summary, if purity is to be an issue in the manage- ment of wilderness, let it focus on preserving the natural integrity of the wilderness environment - and not on need- less restriction of facilities necessary to protect the area while providing for human use and enjoyment. Summary and Conclusions We often embark on a journey looking for one thing and discover something else. Columbus and other explorers of his time were looking for the East Indies and discovered two continents they did not know existed. The search begun by Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall and others earlier in this century for iI syuem to protect some of America's wilder- ness remnants led eventually to a heightened concern for our natural environment. Yes, the wilderness movement was the forerunner of the environmental movement. Through our concern for these wildlands, we came to realize that it is folly to extract and exploit resources without considering the impact of these actions on the surrounding environment. We have been forced to recognize that man cannot live well in an empty open-pit copper mine, or on a falling water liIble, an eroded farm, or a field of tree slUmps. Thus, the wilderness movement was not a romantic excursion into the past; rather, it was the slilrt of an explora- tion of our future. We are learning, at times painfully slowly, that all the components of the environment - both the living plants and animals and the fossil fuels and minerals which are their ancient relatives - are vital to our well-being. \! :l _.f ; >:; :~ ~:. ~ , I think the real meaning of wilderness was stated best 20 years ago by my late colleague from New Mexico, Senator Clinton Anderson. He was not only chairman of the Senate 13 .;'\ "