[shreyshnaccount]

The alternative is to not only learn from, appreciate, and re-install traditional and indigenous practices in conservation efforts as much as possible, but also try and expand our idea of nature to include the conservation of species in landscapes that do not conform to the traditional sense of pristine wilderness.

It is about respecting those who live on the planet with us, and the wilderness myth allows the people you speak about exploit everything other than a very narrow idea of what is wild, and valuable.

While the heuristic is useful for, say, a rainforest eco-system, it actively de-values the plains/ grasslands/ marshes ecosystems just because they do not conform to the ideal we think about when we think about wilderness.