Wilderness and the Human Spirit

Photograph of Emma Louden at Dead Horse Point

There are likely as many answers to the question of what wilderness means to the human spirit as there are people who support the protecting and defending of Utah’s Red Rock Wilderness. For some, time spent in the wilds is recreational pure adventure in its most raw form. Others thrive on solitude that is only possible in wilderness. Some believe that wilderness should be allowed to exist whether or not anyone ever experiences it. 

For me, when I'm in a wild place my deepest, most true self (this is my definition of 'spirit' or 'soul') is easily exposed and I get a sense of all that I share with all life—that even now in all our modernity, we have an active role—and therefore, a true responsibility—in the vast and infinite evolutionary story.

Brooke Williams

Field Organizer

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Since 1983, SUWA has been the only independent organization working full-time to defend America’s redrock wilderness from oil and gas development, unnecessary road construction, illegal off-road vehicle use, and other threats to the 9.2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management lands that qualify as Wilderness under the 1964 Wilderness Act. www.suwa.org