I enjoyed Sean Prentiss’ review of two books about humans’ role in the wilderness and in sharing the experience of living within wilderness with your children (“Wildness for the next generation,” HCN, 5/14/18). My kids have the unique experience of getting to live on U.S. Forest Service land on the edge of a large wilderness area for a period of their lives, a privilege for which I’m thankful — even if they aren’t always thrilled.
But it is just that, a privilege, and unfortunately 99.9 percent of Americans won’t have that experience with their families. And if they did, that land would not be wilderness. People are visitors, by definition. But thank you for your trail work.
Scott Crain
Seattle, Washington
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The privilege of wilderness.
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