The Ecological Citizen: Confronting human supremacy
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Long article
Wilderness, Indigenous land zones and regionality in North American forests
The Ecological Citizen Vol 9 No 1 2026: 38–49 [epub-150]
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ACCESS PDF OF ARTICLEFirst published: 27 January 2026 | PERMANENT URL | DOWNLOAD CITATION IN RIS FORMAT
Abstract
The concept and conservation approach of wilderness in the United States has been criticized as Eurocentric, as incompatible with Indigenous land use and as ignoring Native people's longstanding presence on the North American landscape. In opposition to this view, this paper argues that many Indigenous societies recognized parts of the landscape as analogous to wilderness – dwelling on, and limiting disturbance practices to, a minor portion of their homelands, primarily living spaces. For instance, the Nimiipuu in the Rocky Mountains and Algonquian nations of the Northeast left the uplands and mountains uninhabited, restricting activities there to ceremonial, spiritual, or seasonal hunting and gathering purposes. Indigenous terms such as titoqa-nót wétes ('people-less land') and táuohkômuk ('wilderness') align closely with the 1964 Wilderness Act's definition of wilderness as lands "untrammeled by man" and "where man is a visitor who does not remain". Studies on the impacts of northeastern Indigenous land use on vegetation corroborate these land use restrictions, revealing local rather than widespread regional impacts. Taken together, Indigenous classifications and empirical evidence suggest that great swaths of upland forested areas of Turtle Island (North America) grew and self-organized with minimal human impact before European colonization.
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