Goals for vegetation management in wilderness areas have been difficult to define. Managing for natural vegetation is confounded because 'natural' is not uniquely defined and past interruption of natural processes, particularly fire, has caused ecosystem changes that may be difficult to remove. To what extent can we or should we structurally recreate the ecosystms that would have been present today without past human interference before reintroducing natural fire regimes? Short return interval, low-intensity fire regimes offer the most promise for structurally oriented vegetation management goals, although there were some long-return interval or high-intensity fire regimes where such goals may be preferred. Process-oriented goals are suitable for all fire regimes but in some cases should be integrated with structural goals for short fire-return interval ecosystems.