New York's Central Park: A Wilderness?

One of the central themes in my course, The History of the American Wilderness, is the question, how do you define wilderness? I took this picture last fall (2012) from a hotel room high high above Central Park. On the right is the city of New York, and on the left is -- the wilderness. Please bear with me as I make my case....

Looking down I could see a forest...

and a lake shore -- well, at least a pond shore.....

and "hikers" beside the pond....

One swallow doth not a summer make, nor a pond and a few trees, a wilderness. But bear with me as I take the elevator down 33 floors from my hotel room perch to Fifty-Ninth Street and Central Park. Here is a forest scene in the park redolent of the "great outdoors"...

And another....

To conclude my argument for Central Park as wilderness, I will invoke two themes from my wilderness class: (1) We should answer the "is it wilderness" question by utilizing a spectrum involving total wilderness ("way out there") on one side and total urbanization ("not out there") at the other side. Certainly Antarctica, say, is a lot farther toward the way out there side of the spectrum than any city park. But then a park has more of nature than, say, a shopping mall. By this measure, Central Park is abundant in natural flora and fauna, features of a wilderness. (2) Wilderness is in part a state of mind. We can be closer to wildness while contemplating fully a tiny forest, for example, than we are in wilderness when walking in Turnbull National Wildlife Reguge or beside Walden Pond if our minds are "sicklied o'er with a pale cast of thought" -- as in wondering how to pay the bills or repair the car. 

Before saying goodbye for the moment to Central Park, I'll post a slide show with more views of this wonderful place.

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