But loving it is not enough. We must protect it.

A coalition of more than 60 business, environmental, outdoor recreation, academic, political, and community organizations from across the U.P. and Michigan is doing just that. The “Keep the U.P. Wild” campaign is seeking Federal Wilderness designation for four special places on the Ottawa National Forest.

For more information on the campaign — and the local groups advocating for it — go to www.keeptheupwild.com.

Some tout the whole U.P. as “wilderness,” and to some folks it may seem like it is. But there’s a difference between wilderness meaning any wild area and federally-designated, capital-w Wilderness.

Doug Welker

When it comes to wild places there is no guarantee that without formal protection it will stay that way forever, or even for the next decade or two. Or stay as valuable for its solitude, or as a home to rare plants and animals, or as an ecosystem and landscape that help provide a source of clean water.

Federally-designated Wilderness focuses on non-motorized recreation, natural resource protection, opportunities for quiet and solitude and personal challenge. Achieving those goals involves some restrictions on human activity, but restrictions are sometimes needed for the greater good.

A 2014 study from the International Journal of Wilderness found that Wilderness designation brings the American public $9.4 billion a year in economic benefits. These benefits — roughly $85 an acre — are stable and don’t decline during economic downturns.

Hunting and fishing, which Wilderness allows and encourages, already bring Michigan $11.2 billion a year and 171,000 jobs.

Clearly, not all of the U.P., or not even most of it, should become designated Wilderness. No private land is eligible. Wilderness is a special designation for the most special federal lands.

The focus of Keep the U.P. Wild is on these four special areas:

≤ Ontonagon County’s Trap Hills is perhaps the most spectacular place in Michigan without permanent protection. It features great hiking trails, a number of waterfalls and undeveloped clear streams, many rare plants and animals, some old-growth forest, spectacular views, a lot of very wild country, and the highest sheer cliff in Michigan.

≤ South of the Trap Hills is a smaller, adjacent area known as Norwich Plains, which would complement the Trap Hills because of its nature and location.

≤ Northwest of the Trap Hills is the Ehlco Tract, which the Forest Service has determined should be looked at for Wilderness designation. It’s a large, almost-roadless tract, contains mostly maturing forest, and features a number of gorgeous streams. It’s also immediately south of the Porkies, which is already managed, to a great extent, as Wilderness, so the two would greatly complement each other, both ecologically and recreationally.

≤ Adjacent to Sturgeon River Gorge Wilderness, in southern Houghton County, is an area we propose adding to that Wilderness. The Addition covers about 2,000 acres, and is about 50% wetlands. It’s tough to traverse, and is best suited for challenging hiking and hunting. Moose and moose sign are occasionally spotted there.

Wilderness designation tends to increase visitor usage because Wilderness is considered special by many. For example, seven of the eight highest-attendance years for Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore came after the creation of Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness in 2014. Wilderness designation lets communities promote the specialness of their area.

Logging and mining are not permitted in Wilderness. However, none of the four proposed Wildernesses is dominated by forests of high economic value and the valuable copper deposits once found there are gone. Eventually, the forests in these Wildernesses will be most valued for their ecological and scenic attributes.

As our population and associated development increase, so will the pressure to extract the natural resources on our public lands. But so will the need to escape the stresses of an increasingly urbanized world. Action now will help ensure that those havens will remain available for generations to come.

Editor’s note: Horst Schmidt of Houghton is president of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition. Doug Welker of Alston is a former educator and Ottawa National Forest Wilderness ranger.