Wilderness Policies and Cultural Values in Finland and the United States

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WILDERNESS POLICIES AND CULTURAL VALUES IN FINLAND AND THE UNITED STATES As part of a comprehensive, multi-year study of comparative wilderness polices in the circumpolar north, this study is designed to analyze the types of human uses permitted in wilderness areas in terms of the cultural values they represent. Finland in its northern region and the United States in Alaska are well suited for a comparison of Arctic Circle that policies. Both countries have large amounts of land near and above the Arctic Circle that remain in a relatively undeveloped and natural condition. Each also has established legislative mechanisms to designate lands under its sovereign control as de jure wilderness. Finland and the United States have indigenous populations in their Arctic regions; northern Finland is the homeland of the Saami, while Inuit and Athabascans inhabit northern Alaska. Although Finland and the United States share the above traits as Arctic countries, they differ in several respects. The northern geography of Finland is linked directly to its southern, more populated and urban regions, while Alaska is detached from the contiguous United States. Finland also has a younger policy history of establishing and managing de jure wilderness. In 1964 the US Congress passed the Wilderness Act, and in 1980 it approved the Alaska Lands Acts. The Finnish Parliament passed its Wilderness Act in 1991, establishing 12 areas in its Arctic region as de jure Wilderness. The study, an initial comparison of circumpolar wilderness policies, seeks to increase understanding in three areas of concern. First, the study describes the specific types and levels of human uses permitted by government policies in Finland's northern wilderness areas. Second, it analyzes these human uses in terms of what they suggest about the underlying cultural values held toward nature by Finland. Third, the study analyzes uses permitted by public policies in Alaska's wilderness areas with Finland's, comparing and contrast ing their cultural approaches to the place of humans in nature.