What does wilderness mean to you? What do you want to see—or not see—when you travel in the backcountry?

We will be developing a plan for how to oversee use and protection of the park wilderness, and we are looking for your input. Upon completion of the parks' General Management Plan (expected later in 2006), a detailed Wilderness Management Plan will be developed.

When the Wilderness Management Plan is written, it will establish both a philosophy and criteria for making specific decisions about how we all use the wilderness.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 provides the basic standards for caretaking all units of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Wilderness designation requires higher standards for protection than applies to other park land.

Over 723,000 acres, some 84% of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, was designated as Wilderness as part of the 1984 California Wilderness Act. And an additional 110,000 acres of these parks are managed as wilderness per National Park Service policies.

Public input has identified a number of topics for a new wilderness plan to address, such as use of campfires, signs, and trails. For each topic, park staff will develop a range of alternative ways of dealing with each issue.

The Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness Planning Workbook (330K) is available on-line and provides background information on several wilderness issues. If you do not have one, you can download it from Adobe here.

If you would like to comment on these alternatives and participate in this process, please contact the park's Wilderness Coordinator e-mail us or write to the park address:

Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP
47050 Generals Highway
Three Rivers, CA 93271