wilderness magazine 2009-2010

WildernessTHE WILDERNESS SOCIETY 2009-2010

Is Wilderness on a Roll?The Birds of IzembekWhere Should We Put the Turbines?Helping Wildlife Survive Global Warming www.wilderness.org

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We Are Counting on You to Help Us Beat Global WarmingLETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

What in the world does wilderness have to do with global warming?

I have heard that question many times when telling people that we have put a number of our scientists, econo-

mists, and other staff members into the campaign to seek solutions to this growing problem. Overseeing our legislative campaign is a former congressional aide who was the original director of the House committee set up to tackle global warming.

They are very busy right now because passage of a climate change bill is the number-one conservation priority this fall. The House passed the Waxman-Markey Bill in the spring, so now most of the action is in the Senate. It is critical that the Senate approve as strong a bill as possible. Then lawmakers from both chambers will meet to forge a final version.

Though “global warming” and “climate change” were not in the dictionary in 1935, we have been working on this issue since our founding. The wilderness and other public lands that we have helped protect have been absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere—carbon that otherwise would have led to even more global warming than we are experiencing. In addition, because many of these places are large and wild, they have provided an-other benefit: Wildlife species whose habitat is changing with the climate are more likely to be able to migrate and thereby survive. (To learn more about this, read the story that begins on page 46.)

Now that scientists have documented some of the ways in which land conservation helps us fend off global warm-ing, we have an even stronger mandate to protect the natural world. Oil and gas drilling, logging, and mining must not occur in places where the ecological toll is too high. Across the country we are identifying expansive landscapes that we believe are too valuable to be exploit-ed by commercial interests. We will do whatever we can to defend these special places.

To succeed, we will need to continue developing new partners. More than ever, the creation of wilderness areas reflects support from business owners, hunters, educa-tors, and ranchers who are seeing the benefits of such ef-forts to enable human communities and natural commu-nities to live in harmony. The story on page 20 highlights some of this progress.

As always, we depend on our members to support our efforts to craft solutions to the many challenges we face. Your financial support makes it possible for us to employ the experts who are building the case for protecting wil-derness and wildlife. Your letters, e-mails, and phone calls help convince decision makers to make the right choices. During this critical time, I urge you to tell your represen-tatives in Congress that future generations are counting on them to help tackle the serious threats posed by global warming. We cannot delay any longer.

Sincerely,

William H. Meadows

P.S. We have a new ally as we strive to reach a wider audi-ence: Dave Matthews. One of the most popular musicians in the country, Dave is now a member of our Governing Council and will be making the case for wilderness in a variety of ways. We are tremendously excited to have Dave at our side.

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12 The Birds of IzembekThis renowned wildlife refuge in Alaska faces a serious threat.By Kim Heacox

16 Our Newest Partner: Dave MatthewsThe celebrated musician joins our Governing Council.

17 “My Favorite Place”Five citizens tell us about theirs.

18 Can You Still Find Peace and Quiet in Our National Parks? Q&A with two experts on natural sounds

20 Hope Abounds for Wilderness BillsIs Congress primed for creating more wilderness areas?By Stephen Trimble

24 The Plight of the MigrantsAn essay by David S. Wilcove

26 The Wilderness Society Celebrates 75 YearsPassages from our magazine reflect a steady focus on the mission.

28 Everyone Wants Clean Energy, But Where Do We Put the Turbines?Conservationists are seeking sensible guidelines.By Mary Engel & Nolan Hester

32 The Next Great Wilderness AreasA photo essay featuring seven gems that merit protection

40 Green JobsRestoring our public lands will require many hands.By Christopher Dunagan

44 The Arctic Refuge Turns 50A husband and wife chased their dream.By Roger Kaye

46 Public Lands: A Bridge to the FutureOur forests and parks are vital allies as we fight climate change.By Doreen Cubie

50 New Wilderness in a Timeless LandThis issue’s “Great Place to Visit” is the Owyhee Canyonlands in Idaho.By John McCarthy

56 Coming to Grips with an Old Fear An essay by Elisabeth Hyde

WILDErnESS, winner of a platinum Hermes award, is published annually by the Wilderness Society. members also receive a newsletter three times a year. Founded in 1935, the Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire americans to care for our wild places.

Editor: bennett H. beach ([email protected])Photo Editor: melissa blountDesign: Studio Grafik, Herndon, Virginia

© 2009 by the Wilderness Society, 1615 m St., nW, Washington, DC 20036 www.wilderness.org

DEPARTMENTS

4 Past Year’s Achievements

6 News from the Regions

55 Poetry

58 Meet a Wilderness Society Member Sandy and Patrick Martin promote eco-investing.

60 Wilderness Heroes

CoVEr PHoto: © 2009 Patrick Endres/alaskaStock.com

this magazine was printed on 30-percent-post-consumer-waste-recycled, elemental chlorine-free paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. as a result, we used 33 tons less wood than we would have if printing on virgin paper. We also reduced our electricity consumption by 74 million btUs, water use by 106,625 gallons, solid waste by 6,474 pounds, and greenhouse gas emissions by 22,139 pounds. (Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Defense Fund Paper Calculator. For more information, visit http://www.papercalculator.org.)

the Wilderness Society meets all standards as set forth by the better business bureau/Wise Giving alliance.

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WILDERNESS: In March Congress protected wilder-ness in nine states: California (750,000 acres in the East-ern Sierra, Riverside County and Sequoia-Kings Can-yon National Park); Oregon (204,000 acres at Mount Hood, Siskiyou National Forest, and other spots); Idaho (517,000 acres in the Owyhee Canyonlands), Colorado (66,000 acres of red rock sandstone canyons, cliffs, streams and waterfalls on the Western Slope); Michigan (11,739 acres at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore along Lake Superior); Virginia (43,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest), and Utah, New Mexico, and West Virginia—a total of more than two million acres.

ALASKA: We helped block legislation authorizing oil drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s spectac-ular coastal plain…. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected a proposed land exchange that would have led to oil drilling across 200,000 acres of Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.

NATIONAL PARKS: The Obama administration will allow no more than 318 snowmobiles per day into Yellowstone—down from 720 last winter—until a permanent policy is adopted… Interior Secretary Salazar suspended plans to allow oil and gas leasing in 77 areas in Utah’s Canyon Country, alongside two national parks and other wildlands.

OIL & GAS: A new policy issued by the BLM in February required more careful review of areas pro-posed for oil and gas lease sales, especially if such areas were proposed for wilderness designation… The BLM also agreed to put more than 450,000 acres off-limits to oil and gas leasing at Wyoming’s Pinedale Resource Area, home to the world’s longest pronghorn migration route… Congress barred any new oil and gas leasing on 1.2 million acres of the Wyoming Range, and the BLM decided in August to cancel the leases and pending bids on 23 other Wyoming Range parcels... Interior Secretary Salazar agreed to withdraw an oil shale “research and development” lease sale proposed by the Bush adminis-tration and to review that administration’s commercial leasing plan… In a lawsuit we filed with several partners to prevent drilling at Otero Mesa in New Mexico, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ushered in a new era for western public lands by ruling that the BLM must consider conservation values when deciding whether to open public land to oil and gas drilling.

WILDLIFE: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pro-posed tripling the size of Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge in Maine and New Hampshire, and protecting habitat suitable for lynx.

ACHIEVEMENTS

The past 12 months have been lively, with both the Obama and Bush administrations striving to act on their environmental priorities. Thanks to the support provided by members of The Wilderness Society, along with the capable work of our many allies, there were numerous achievements.

We worked with allies to secure funding to add acreage to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan.

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Notable Achievements Over the Past Year

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NATIONAL FORESTS: The Bush administration’s efforts to eliminate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule—and thus put 58 million acres of national forest in jeopardy—were rejected by a federal appeals court, which reinstated the original rule… Another federal court threw out Bush-era planning rules for national for-ests that would have gutted protection of wildlife … The U.S. Forest Service restored naturalness to backcountry areas by closing over 10 million acres to cross-country driving, 6,300 miles of unneeded roads, and 15,000 miles of illegal routes that were causing environmental prob-lems… The Forest Service dropped a proposal calling for new off-road vehicle routes through agency-identified roadless areas in Plumas and Modoc national forests in California… A federal appeals court rejected a Bush administration plan that would have permitted a five-fold increase in logging in 11 million acres of national forests in California’s Sierra Nevada… Congress approved a 20 percent increase in funding to eliminate old logging roads and remove barriers to fish migration… The BLM agreed to defer gas leasing at two potential wilderness areas in West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest: Seneca Creek and Roaring Plains.

OTHER VICTORIES: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management withdrew a Bush administration plan to triple logging on public lands in western Oregon… We led a diverse coalition that secured significant funding for natural resource restoration on public lands, as part of the economic stimulus package... The Front Range Roundtable, our nationally recognized collaborative

effort, will effectively direct a significant portion of stim-ulus dollars to the highest-priority fire risk reduction and forest restoration work along Colorado’s Front Range… A coalition that we led with The Nature Conservancy convinced federal authorities to establish a public educa-tion campaign to complement Smokey Bear’s message of fire safety by highlighting fire’s natural and necessary role in maintaining and restoring ecosystems… The BLM created a special management area for 81 percent of Agua Fria National Monument in Arizona, thereby bar-ring off-road vehicle use and other activities that could damage these wilderness-quality lands…

Congress permanently protected the National Landscape Conservation System, which contains the conservation areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and added 1.2 million acres to it…We helped block every attempt by the Bush administration to authorize R.S. 2477 claims that would have led to roads through undeveloped public lands in the West, culminating with a decisive victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit… Congress appropriated money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the Forest Legacy program that made it possible to protect high-quality—but threatened—natural areas in dozens of states. The places that will benefit include Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Michigan), Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument (California), Eden Forest (Vermont), Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (Maryland), and Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge (Florida).

This year’s accomplishments included an expansion of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (Maryland), permanent protection of Agua Fria National Monument (Arizona) and the rest of the National Landscape Conservation System, and the defeat of efforts to weaken protection of our national forests.

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ALASKA A land exchange that could have led to oil and gas drilling on more than 200,000 acres at Alaska’s Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge is now much less likely, thanks to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decision not to proceed. This is great news not only for the refuge and the wildlife that it was established to protect, but also for the native people who live within or near the boundaries of the refuge. At least for now, their way of life, which depends heavily on hunting, fishing, and gath-ering food directly from the land, can continue free from concerns about the impacts of oil and gas development.

The decision is especially important in the context of our changing climate. This refuge is one of the places in Alaska where scientists are documenting the earliest evidence of climate change, including warmer tempera-

tures, shrink-ing lakes, and more wildfires. For example,

warmer temperatures are reducing the number of lowland lakes where birds rest, feed, and build nests. Oil and gas development would exacerbate the problem because it siphons off large quantities of water. But bird populations may adapt if adequate upland lake habitat is protected and can serve as a substitute when lowland lakes disappear. The Wilderness Society worked closely with Native Alaskans and other allies to ensure that local voices were heard and included in the public process. We will continue monitoring planning at Yukon Flats in order to prevent any effort to revive the land exchange.

Nicole Whittington-Evans 907-272-9453 [email protected]

correction: The summer newsletter urged readers to write Congress in support of legislation that would protect the heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by designating it a wilderness area. The House bill is not H.R. 49; it is H.R. 39.

Notes from the field...

tures, shrinking lakes, and

REGIONAL NOTES

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We helped prevent oil and gas development at Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, vital to grebes and other species, and we hope to add Devil’s Staircase (Oregon) to the National Wilderness Preservation System.

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PACIFIC NORTHWEST Building on momentum created in early 2009 by the designation of several wilder-ness areas in Oregon, both of the state’s senators and four of its five congressmen are championing protection of 29,650 acres of wilderness and 14.6 miles of wild rivers in an extremely rugged portion of the Oregon Coast Range.

The Devil’s Staircase proposed wilderness has a cascading waterfall and is heavily forested with old growth, including western red cedar, Douglas-fir, and western hemlock. It provides valuable habitat for spotted owls, marbled mur-relets, coho and Chinook salmon, elk, black bear, moun-tain lion, otter, and mink. One guide book describes the terrain as so rugged that only a “handful of mortals have penetrated Wassen’s Creek central canyon.” One of those “mortals” is Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR), the lead sponsor of the House bill.

The lands are in the Siuslaw National Forest and in the Coos Bay BLM district in Douglas County. The Siuslaw has three wilderness areas: Drift Creek, Cummins Creek, and Rock Creek, all established 25 years ago.

Please urge your representatives in Congress to cosponsor H.R. 2888 and S. 1272. If you are an Oregonian, thank your representatives for supporting this initiative.

Bob Freimark206-624-6430

[email protected]

CALIFORNIA-NEVADA In recent years off-high-way vehicles (OHVs) have proliferated in our national forests. By 2005 nearly 11 million acres of California’s na-tional forests were open to cross-country driving, leading to more than 9,000 miles of unauthorized and unregu-lated “user-created” routes. The result was erosion, rutted meadows, polluted air, and other damage. This traffic also created problems for wildlife and deprived visitors of the peace and quiet they sought in these forests.

We undertook a major campaign with the U.S. Forest Ser-vice to end cross-country driving and manage OHV use in 12 of the state’s national forests. The agency has been draw-ing up plans for each forest, and we are seeing significant progress in the drafts: 1) Cross-country driving will be pro-hibited in all forests. 2) A limited number of the user-creat-ed routes will be designated for OHV use (5 to 10 percent in most cases). 3) Wet-weather motor vehicle closures will be implemented on thousands of miles of roads.

Citizens—who own these forests—have been instru-mental in this success. Notably, 60,000 of them have responded to Wilderness Society e-mail alerts asking them to share their concerns with the Forest Service. We intend to remain vigilant and work with our partners as the plans are finalized. Then we will focus on “right-sizing” the road system on California’s national forests, which contain 50,000 miles of roads, the same mileage as the entire Interstate Highway System. Many of the forest

roads, which were built mostly for logging trucks, are unnecessary and are causing environmental damage.

David Edelson 415-398-1111 [email protected]

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We are working with partners to curb off-road vehicle use that can seriously damage our national forests.

roads, which were built mostly for logging trucks, are unnecessary and are causing environmental damage.

David [email protected]

www.wilderness.org

We are working with partners to curb off-road vehicle use that can seriously damage our national forests.

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NORTHERN ROCKIES Less than two percent of the world’s temperate grasslands are protected from oil and gas leasing, roads, and crop development. We are determined to protect some of that land, which includes the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, both in central Montana’s prairie country. The area is home to 300 bird species, including the greater sage grouse, golden eagle and sandhill crane; more than 1,500 species of plants like blue grama, sagebrush and coneflower; 220 butterfly species; and at least 90 mammals, including the American bison and the endangered black-footed ferret.

Right now we are working to restore historic spring flows along the wild & scenic stretch of the Upper Missouri to boost cottonwood regeneration and protect endan-gered fish. In May our staff helped construct a half-mile enclosure to keep cows from grazing on regenerating cot-tonwood stands along the river. We have gone to court to challenge a plan for the Upper Missouri River Breaks Na-tional Monument that includes six backcountry airstrips, a dense road system that harms wildlife habitat, and motorized recreation along the entire 149-mile stretch of the wild and scenic portion of the Missouri.

The plan for managing Charles M. Russell proposes 15 wilderness areas, and we want to make sure those lands are fully protected until Congress can decide whether to make them part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Bob Ekey406-586-1600 [email protected]

IDAHO The dry montane forests of the northern Rockies are one of the West’s majestic landscapes. Ponderosa pine, western larch, and Douglas fir cover the lower slopes of these mountains and provide important habitat for white-headed woodpeckers, flammulated owls, and a number of other species.

But the long-term health of this forest ecosystem is in doubt. Decades of logging, livestock grazing, road build-ing, and suppression of almost all fires have altered the structure of the forests (for example, by increasing stand density) and have reduced their ecological integrity, espe-cially in the more accessible dry forests—those at low el-evations and on gentle slopes. Although the dry montane forest is naturally a fire-sculpted ecosystem, these changes have created a risk of more frequent and more severe fires. Climate change has further increased the danger.

As a result, the dry montane forest is now the main target for forest restoration in the Northern Rockies. However, the model being used is based on ponderosa pine ecosystems in the Southwest, and the two are not the same. Our report “Restoration of Low Elevation Dry Forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains: A Holistic Approach” makes the case that restoration strategies for the Northern Rockies must take into account the specific ecology of forests in this region, as well as the history of land management activities in a particular place. You can see the report at: http://wilderness.org/content/restoration-low-elevation-dry-forests.

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In the Northern Rockies we are making progress on initiatives aimed at conserving prairies and dry montane forests, home to flammulated owls and other species.

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Restoration of these forests has the potential to improve community protection from wildfire and provide critical wildlife habitat, and the Forest Service has welcomed us as policy and science partners.

Craig Gehrke208-343-8153 [email protected]

UTAH In its final weeks, the Bush administration cre-ated national headlines with a plan to lease 77 areas near some of Utah’s most stunning places, totaling 100,000 acres of the public’s land to oil and gas companies. After we and our partners filed a lawsuit and blocked the sale, the new interior secretary, Ken Salazar, concluded that a full review was in order.

Many of the tracts are close to national parks and other sensitive, world-class landscapes such as Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon. The previous administration by-passed normal consultations with the National Park Service, which had objected to offering leases for many of those sites.

Salazar dispatched David Hayes, his top deputy, to Utah to gather facts and opinions. In June the Interior Depart-ment issued a report concluding that the analysis was not sufficient and recommending broad

improvements to the leasing process to fully consider environmental threats and wilderness values. We expect to see the results of the improved review soon.

This leasing controversy is symptomatic of the threats facing Utah’s spectacular redrock canyons and other pub-lic lands, and our BLM Action Center will continue to play a leading role in tracking the Interior Department’s draft management plans. To augment that work, we have opened an office in Salt Lake City.

Julie Mack801-355-0070 [email protected]

COLORADO Treasured portions of the San Juan Mountains would be added to the National Wilderness Preservation System by legislation that U.S. Rep. John Salazar (D-CO) is likely to introduce soon. Two existing wilderness areas—Mt. Sneffels and Lizard Head—would be expanded by a total of 25,000 acres. In addition, 8,614 acres of the McKenna Peak Wilderness Study Area would become part of the system. We also expect the bill to designate 22,582 acres as the Sheep Mountain Special Management Area. Existing uses, including heli-skiing, would be allowed to continue, but no new roads or other development would be permitted. In Naturita Canyon, 6,595 acres would be declared off-limits to mineral leasing.

These lands in western Colorado are popular with hikers, anglers, and others who enjoy outdoor recreation. The area provides important habitat for elk, mule deer, and black bears. Passage of Salazar’s proposal would prevent

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Oil and gas leasing was deferred in Utah’s redrock canyonlands (above), and we are advocating expansion of wilderness areas in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains (right).

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mining, drilling, off-road vehicle riding, and other activi-ties that could damage these special places.

We are working with the Sheep Mountain Alliance, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Ridgeway-Ouray Com-munity Council, Silverton Mountain School, business owners, and other allies to build public support for this initiative. Meanwhile, we are urging Salazar to make his bill even stronger by protecting the proposed Snaggle-tooth Wilderness in the Dolores River Canyon, and the other 10,800 acres of McKenna Peak WSA. Another potential improvement is a ban on proposed mineral leasing at the Perins Peak State Wildlife Refuge, as urged by the La Plata County Commission.

Suzanne Jones303-650-5818 [email protected]

SOUTHEAST Almost half a century ago, a regional commission hatched a plan to create a system of four-lane highways to alleviate poverty in Appalachia. One of these highways was called Corridor K. This scheme is blindly moving forward to complete a highway between Asheville and Chattanooga—even though these cities currently are well connected by I-40 and I-75. If completed, Corridor K would cut through the mountains of southeastern Ten-nessee and southwestern North Carolina, bisecting the Cherokee and Nantahala national forests.

A 2003 Tennessee government study found that 35 rare species in that state would be jeopardized by this project. Reductions in the black bear population and other wildlife are likely, too. This report concluded that road construction would bury 5,400 feet of mountain stream, thus increasing siltation and other pollution in these waters. Greater truck noise, spoiled views from the Ap-palachian Trail, and air pollution are also predicted.

Today eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are perhaps best known for their natural beauty. A major highway project would probably do more economic harm than good, by making the region’s natural features less attractive to visitors who have become vital to the dynamic tourism and recreation industry.

We are working with the Southern Appalachian For-est Coalition, WaysSouth, and others to develop an environmentally sound plan: A Better Way for Corridor K. This solution would address the real highway issues without destroying the surrounding landscape. Such an alternative would also reduce the cost of this pork-barrel project, which otherwise could cost billions of dollars.

Brent Martin828-369-7084 [email protected]

MID-ATLANTIC New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state and continues to lose 50 acres a day to development. Fortunately, the state has been in the forefront of the land conservation movement. To counter the threat to New Jersey’s natural heritage, the state’s voters have approved 12 bond issues over the years, and with the help of local governments and nonprofits, the Garden State has preserved more than 1.2 million acres since 1985. But the money approved in 2007 has run out. In November, the state’s voters will have an opportunity to replenish the Garden State Preservation Trust with $400 million—less than $1 per month for each household.

The Wilderness Society is part of the Keep It Green Campaign, which helped push the ballot question through the state legislature this year and will continue working toward creation of a long-term dedicated

A proposed highway would run right through high-quality black bear habitat in North Carolina and Tennessee.

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funding source to meet these needs. We are eager to see forests, wetlands, and other natural areas pro-tected in the Highlands, Pinelands, and elsewhere in the Garden State. For example, state funds are needed to preserve almost 20,000 acres of the most critical water supply lands in the Highlands. The Trust for Public Land, one of the coalition leaders, estimates that every $1 invested will provide $10 of benefits, including water purification, waste treatment, flood mitigation, fish and farm products, and outdoor recreation and tourism.

Michael Washburn518-937-2953 [email protected]

NORTHEAST Three Republican senators from New England could decide the fate of legislation that would make the United States a more committed partner in the international effort to address global warming. Maine’s Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg want to study the legislation and further discuss the issue with their constituents before taking a position.

Global warming seriously threatens many of the places in the region that we are determined to protect. National wildlife refuges such as Umbagog, Rachel Carson, Sunkhaze Meadows, Great Mead-

ows, Parker River, and Maine Coastal Islands would be compromised by significant changes in water levels and temperatures. Also in jeopardy: White Mountain and Green Mountain national forests, Baxter State Park, the Moosehead Lake region, and Acadia National Park.

The results could include dramatic setbacks for the fish-ing, forest products, and recreation and tourism indus-tries, among others. Fish and wildlife populations would change significantly. For example, there could be a large reduction in the number of eastern brook trout.

We are working with the Natural Resources Council of Maine and other partners to make sure that New Englanders—and their representatives in Congress—are aware of the potential impacts of changes in our climate. Please urge your elected officials to support legislation that would put the country on a path to tackling global warming before we run out of time.

Leanne Klyza Linck802-482-2171 [email protected]

We are supporting a New Jersey bond issue that will enable the state to preserve more of its natural heritage (left), while in northern New England we are raising public awareness of potential changes to treasures such as Acadia National Park (above) if the nation fails to curb global warming.

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DENALI, THE ARCTIC REFUGE, GLACIER BAY.Those are the big names in Alaska. But if you’re a Pacific black brant, those famous places do not compare to a na-tional wildlife refuge and wilderness area called Izembek. Its ecological heart is a low-lying, windy isthmus under a gray skullcap sky, rich with eelgrass and shimmering tide flats that taste of salt and life and promise. Quiet at times, then beautifully boisterous with feeding birds.

Here on the ancient shore of the Bering Sea, where old meets new, and mainland Alaska begins its rambunctious swing into the thousand-mile-long arc of the Aleutian Islands, distant volcanoes taper into a small place where birds from around the world find a crossroads, a sanctu-ary, a nursery, a United Nations on the wing. It’s more than a refuge, or a rest-stop. It’s a favorite place, filled with favorite foods and smells and good company, like grandma’s house, a comfortable kitchen with old calen-dars on the wall; a place that’s always been here, timeless,

reliable, welcoming, where more than 140 species of birds find everything they need.

Every spring they arrive by the thousands, moving up the Pacific Flyway and over open ocean en route to breed-ing grounds in western and Arctic Alaska—or perhaps Russia or Canada. And every autumn they pass through again, replenish themselves at Izembek, and head back to their wintering grounds. Virtually every Pacific black brant on the planet stops at Izembek in autumn to feast on North America’s most bountiful eelgrass beds before heading south, perhaps going as far as Mexico.

Izembek also hosts Wilson’s warblers bound for Central America; Pacific golden-plovers heading to the Pacific Is-lands; western sandpipers destined for the southern U.S., Mexico, and Central America; gray-cheeked thrushes migrating to the Amazon; and ruddy turnstones off to Australia and New Zealand.

The bar-tailed Godwit is one of many birds that depend on Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, where a road may be built through an area that is now wilderness.

The Birds of izemBek

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By Kim Heacox


The Pacific golden-plover flies 3,600 miles non-stop to Hawaii, 60 miles an hour in 60 straight hours. In just four or five days, the bar-tailed godwit flies 6,800 miles to New Zealand, and lands not once. If it did, it would drown. Robert E. Gill, Jr., who has studied godwits and curlews with the Alaska Biological Science Center, believes the godwits’ transpacific odyssey is the longest non-stop flight in the world.

For these migrants and thousands of others, Izembek is their jumping-off place, their essential fueling station; the make-it-or-break-it spot. Take Izembek away, or compro-mise it in any manner, and the ecological cost would be steep, especially in today’s tattered, fragmented world. Bio-geographers have estimated that global extinction rates are already about 1,000 times higher than they were 200 years ago, when we began to industrialize landscapes, destroy forests, degrade habitats, and make too many of ourselves.

The birds of Izembek tie the Earth together, not so much in straight lines but in great leaps of faith, with the newly fledged first-year birds on their inaugural southbound journeys every autumn. They follow coastlines, moun-tains, rivers, and stars. They cross continents east to west, then north to south. They ride major wind currents in global figure-eight patterns, and acknowledge no political boundaries or “no-fly zones.” In essence, these birds have their own global positioning systems.

Bill Reffalt, director of the National Wildlife Refuge Sys-tem under President Jimmy Carter, notes that strategically located national wildlife refuges, national parks, and other public lands serve as vital stops along the Pacific Flyway. “Each such way station has become essentially irreplace-able,” said Reffalt. “Many of these places are also spec-tacular viewing portals for humans as the waves of birds descend upon the fields and wetlands reserved for them.”

In an average year 300,000 ducks, including harlequins (above), rely on Izembek, located near the tip of the Alaska Peninsula.

in just four or five days, the Bar-tailed godwit flies 6,800 miles to new zealand, and lands not once.

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But Izembek may be about to change. The towns of King Cove and Cold Bay flank Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, and many of the 800 people who live in King Cove want road access to nearby Cold Bay and its large all-weather airport. In 1998 Congress appropriated nearly $40 million to ad-dress the medical and transportation needs of King Cove. A modern tele-medicine center was built in King Cove, and as reported by The Washington Post, a hovercraft was provided that “can transport 56 pas-sengers across the bay [from one town to the other] in 20 minutes in 10-foot waves.” Since then, all of the more than 30 evacuations have been conducted safely and ef-ficiently. But the people in King Cove want a single-lane, raised-bed gravel road, roughly 44 miles long, to run across the isthmus that is the biological heart of Izem-bek; a road that would connect them to Cold Bay, and dissect the refuge, one of the most important bird spots in Alaska. A road right through grandma’s house.

For more than ten years the Izembek road issue has ebbed and flowed like a tricky tide over the political land-

scape, aided by Alaska’s congressional delegation, and later by Governor Frank Murkowski, until March 2009, when it survived tucked away in a massive bill that pro-tected more than two million acres of wilderness in nine

states. “It is, in our view, a world-class boondoggle,” said Evan Hirsche, presi-dent of the National Wildlife Refuge As-sociation. “Izembek is a sacrificial lamb in the public lands bill.”

“It would set a ter-rible precedent for America’s wilderness,” said Nicole Whittington-Evans, The Wilderness Society’s acting director in Alaska. “Once a pristine place is made part of the National Wilderness Preservation System, it should not be vulnerable to having a road built through it.”

Still, it’s not a done deal. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service must issue an environmental impact statement on the road, and the interior secretary could block its construc-tion. “This scientific analysis should be no different than previous studies, which found that the road would cause irreparable harm to this vital wetland,” said Maribeth Oakes, who oversees wildlife refuge issues for The

Eelgrass provides 95 percent of the diet of Pacific black brant (above), and the largest eelgrass bed in North America can be found in the heart of Izembek. Every year virtually the entire population of Pacific Black Brant visits the refuge.

“once a pristine place is made part of the national wilderness preservation system, it should not Be vulneraBle to having a road Built through it.”

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Wilderness Society. “Documenting the irreparable harm would allow the Interior Secretary to determine that it is in the public’s best interest to maintain protection for this invaluable wilderness.”

Aldo Leopold, one of the founders of The Wilderness Society, warned in A Sand County Almanac that the “expansion of transport without a corresponding growth of perception can morally bankrupt a culture.”

Sit and listen. The birds are coming. Ambassadors of the world, with their ancient voices and deep, deserving hun-ger after a long flight, they stop at Izembek because they can and must—just as they have for thousands of years; and because we have left it for them, with all its salt and life and promise. We who can alter any landscape in the world have left this place alone, unmolested, as a symbol of our restraint, because the Earth belongs to birds and other wildlife, too, not just to us.

Kim Heacox lives in Gustavus, Alaska, near Glacier Bay. His latest book, The Only Kayak, was a PEN USA Literary Award finalist in creative non-fiction.

Named in 1827 in honor of Karl Izembeck, a surgeon traveling on a Russian sloop, the wildlife refuge hosts more than 200 wildlife species, including the emperor goose (top right), green-winged teal (middle), least sandpiper (bottom), red fox, brown bear, river otter, and mink.

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Dave Matthews, lead vocalist and guitarist for the Dave

Matthews Band, is stepping up his efforts to protect wil-derness in the United States. He has become a member of The Wilderness Society’s Governing Council, which serves as our board of directors and is responsible for the organization’s direction.

During The Wilderness Society’s 75-year history, the council has included some of the nation’s most prominent conservationists: founders Bob Marshall (a passionate wilderness activist and leader), Aldo Leopold (renowned author of A Sand County Almanac), and Benton MacKaye (the “father of the Appalachian Trail”); award-winning writers Wallace Stegner and Terry Tempest Williams; and Mardy and Olaus Murie (driving forces behind protec-tion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge).

“We are thrilled that Dave has joined us,” said Brenda Davis, the Governing Council’s chairman. “We have a tremendous opportunity today to make major strides in wilderness protection and to inspire the American people to action on behalf of the lands we all love. Dave’s creativ-ity, energy, and perspective will provide a fabulous boost to these efforts.”

Dave Matthews Band’s first public performance occurred at the 1991 Earth Day Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since then, he has done benefit concerts for numerous causes. His many honors include two Grammy Awards.

“Dave Matthews has long demonstrated a sophisticated and creative commitment to protecting our environ-ment,” said William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society. “Our work to preserve our last wild public lands will greatly benefit from his guidance and his ability to inspire millions of Americans.”

WILDALERT

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A Community for WildernessTens of thousands of our supporters have sprung into action in recent months. They urged their representatives in Congress to pass a global warming bill. They asked the secretary of the interior to prevent leasing in Utah’s redrock canyonlands and along Alaska’s coastline. Each time, our campaign succeeded.

One supporter, Heather Bruner, recently told us that it is “awesome that you provide such an easy way for me to contact our nation’s leaders on issues. Normally, I might not take the time and effort to find out the contact information or draft a message. And the fact that I can customize your default message is great! Thanks for doing the leg work and providing a platform for me to chime in.” You can join Heather and more than 450,000 others in this online community dedicated to defending America’s wilderness and public lands.

Subscribe now at: www.wilderness.org/signup.

Dave Matthews

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Most of us can name a place that is our idea of paradise. Its allure may stem from the memories, the scenery, the wildlife, the things we do, the sounds and smells, or some combination of ingredients. We asked a number people to tell us about their favorite places, and here are five of the answers.

“My Favorite Place”

There is a beauty to the Grand Canyon that is unlike anything else I’ve experienced. What I loved the most was that a whole new view was revealed around every bend. I think it speaks volumes about a place that after being in it for three days the beauty still takes your breath away. The hiking was challenging, and reaching the top was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever accomplished.

Lauren BeckmanCharlottesville, Virginia

My favorite place is West Texas. As a kid, I visited Big Bend with my family. From bobcats to peccaries to horned lizards, it always felt wild. Years later, I discovered the Guadalupe Mountains, and also fell for their beauty and solitude. But above all, I love the clear night skies in the Davis Mountains. I can’t imagine a more peaceful activity than gazing up at the West Texas stars.

Bruce HoStanford, California

I love the Pere Marquette National Scenic River near Scottville, Michigan. The peaceful waters seem to carry all your cares away as nature closes in around you. The most magical moment I’ve experienced on the river was floating silently past as a bald eagle watched us from his perch high above the water. The serenity and beauty are simply breathtaking.

Denise BranderGrand Rapids, Michigan

My favorite time on Sebago Lake in southern Maine is early on a quiet summer morning. My husband swims his mile around the islands, and I paddle next to him in my yellow kayak. If I’m lucky, a loon or two will be with us or calling in the distance. Sometimes the bald eagle soars overhead. The water is so clear under my paddle, the air has a fresh pine tang, and to the west, New Hampshire’s Presidential Range frames the view.

Sally SchnitzerConcord, Massachusetts

My favorite place is the northern Oregon coast. My wife Lisa and I vacationed there when we were first dating, and we have been back several times. Along this very scenic coast, surf pounds the rocks and splashes in myriad fountains, crashing in a mighty crescendo. There are charming small towns and wonderful state parks. At Oswald West State Park there is a half-mile path through a magnificent rain forest that takes you to a secluded beach cove.

Jim MartinezLakewood, Colorado

“My Favorite Place”“My Favorite Place”

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the beauty still takes your breath away. The hiking was challenging, and reaching the top was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever

Lauren BeckmanCharlottesville, Virginia

There is a beauty to the Grand Canyon that is unlike anything else I’ve experienced. What I loved the most was that a whole new view was revealed around every bend. I think

Lakewood, Colorado

“My Favorite Place”

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It is getting louder all the time. It used to be easier to escape the din, and national parks and our other public lands were among the spots you could find peace and quiet. most of these places remain the best prospects for basking in natural sounds, but the decibel level is on the rise. In 1975, as concern grew about the proliferation of low-altitude air tours over the Grand Canyon, Congress passed the Grand Canyon national Park Enlargement act of 1975, which directed the Secretary of Interior to take action to prevent any aircraft or helicopter activity “likely to cause a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park.” Subsequent laws and regulations led to enhanced efforts by federal agencies to protect natural sound.

karen trevino manages the Park Service’s natural sounds program. based in Fort Collins, Colorado, she works with Park Service acoustics experts like kurt Fristrup. Wilderness magazine spoke with trevino and Fristrup to learn more about what wildlife and visitors are hearing these days in the national parks.

Q: What are some of the natural sounds that you can hear at our parks?A: The call of the coyote, the howling of a wolf, bird songs, wind, waterfalls, and rustling leaves are just a few of those sounds. The list is long and varied.

Q: And what are the sounds that are making it harder to hear natural sounds?A: Planes, buses, cars, motorized recreation vehicles such as ATVs and Jet Skis, park operations, and activities on adjacent lands account for most of the noise. Q: Although the impact on humans is important, all this noise probably has a more serious effect on wildlife. True?A: Quite possibly. Wildlife biologists who initially thought that noise was not a cause for much concern are finding in their research that this is a serious threat. Most animals use sound to chart activities in their vicinity. You can break these sounds into two categories: 1) sudden noise that startles wildlife and forces movement to an area that probably does not meet their needs as well, and 2) noise that has a masking effect so that they have trouble hearing sounds that are vital to them.

Can You Still Find Peace and Quiet in our National Parks?

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Q: Can you give us an example?A: Yes. Great grey owls are capable of hearing mice under a foot of snow and then diving down to catch them. When the sounds of those mice are masked, the owls’ ability to find enough food is compromised. When animals flee sounds that frighten them, they waste energy and are dis-tracted from activities that are central to their survival such as eating and procreating. There can be serious reductions in reproduction. Research is also showing that some birds are changing their mating songs because of noise. Q: What are you hearing from visitors?A: A lot. We’re receiving more and more complaints about motorcycle noise caused by “after-market” exhaust systems. There are a number of them, and they feature names like “Screaming Eagle.” As such names imply, these devices are installed with the express purpose of making the vehicle louder. One irony is that most government regulation of noise focuses on urban areas, in part because of a sense that there’s less of a problem in rural settings. The result is that one back-country vehicle is permitted to be as loud as 60 or 70 passenger vehicles. Q: The Wilderness Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and others have been trying to phase out snowmobile use at Yellowstone and Grand Teton. What do you see ahead?A: It’s become such a battle, with conflicting rulings by various courts, that no one can say with confidence how it will turn out. However, the new administration has said clearly that it wants to pay more attention to science, so there’s reason for optimism. Q: And how do things look up in the sky, with aircraft?A: The Park Service has less control there. The Federal Aviation Administration, which has most of the jurisdic-tion, has forecast that over the next ten years the number of national park air tours will grow from 180,000

to nearly two million. That’s a ten-fold increase. A large percentage of the current flights are at the Grand Can-yon, Lake Mead, and the parks in Hawaii. They are also a major concern at Mount Rushmore because the tours occur in such a concentrated area. Q: How is noise affecting people who use wilderness areas?A: For most back-country wilderness visitors, natural sounds are an important element in the solitude that they seek and expect these areas to provide. The Park Service’s National Wilderness Council is trying to ad-dress this. Q: Does the Park Service compile information on natural sounds?A: We are building an inventory and have recorded these sounds in more than 55 parks. This provides a baseline so that we can measure change. Among the most intriguing sounds we’ve taped are a protest call from a bear cub, ex-changes between a great horned owl juvenile and adult, and a chorus of elk bugling. Q: What else have you learned?A: There are surveys showing that 90 percent of respon-dents believe that natural sounds are an important reason for creating a park in the first place and a central part of the national park experience. Also, noise has been shown to affect other sensory perceptions, changing a person’s overall park experience. We have started looking into how noise can compromise your sleep in a national park. It might be a plus to wake up when a wolf howls but not when you hear a Jet Ski or helicopter.

For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/grca/naturescience/natural_sound.htm. Another source is One Square Inch of Silence: One Man’s Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World by Gordon Hempton.


“The System” delivers: hope abounds for wilderness bills

By Stephen Trimble

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Beargrass in bloom on the Clearwater National Forest in the proposed Great Burn Wilderness of Idaho and Montana ©

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WildernessWildernessW hen co-chair Fred Grant opened the

first meeting of the Owyhee Can-yonlands working group, the private property rights advocate placed

people with opposing values next to each other, to guar-antee dialogue. His assistant feared fisticuffs.

Yet the scuffles never erupted, because, Grant believes, the members had too much to lose. Brenda Richards, who represented ranchers, recognized that they shared a concern for “what we want the land to look like way down the road.” Richards accepted the fact that each member approached this cherished wild landscape from a different angle, and she found surprising satisfaction in “softening those angles.”

The Owyhee group’s eight-year journey in search of common ground began in the canyons and deserts of southwestern Idaho. It ended on March 30, 2009, when President Barack Obama signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, protecting more than two million acres of wilderness in nine states—includ-ing 517,000 acres in the Owyhee-Bruneau Canyon-lands, the first wilderness protected in Idaho since the 1980 designation of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

The Owyhee package also includes wild and scenic riv-ers, release of some wilderness study areas, buyout pro-visions for grazing permits, cherry-stemmed roads for guaranteed access, and a science center. Idaho Senator Mike Crapo (R) shepherded the Owyhee bill, which he feels “set a pattern for the whole country about how we should approach decision-making in highly conflict-ridden areas of public lands.” Leading conser-vationists believe that such comprehensive legislation

provides a positive example for future landscape-scale bills incorporating wilderness and other conservation designations.

One of the believers is Melyssa Watson, who directs The Wilderness Society’s Wilderness Support Center in Durango, Colorado. “The Omnibus is one of the most significant wilderness and land conservation bills Con-gress has ever passed and certainly the most significant in a couple of decades,” she contends.

Why such a long wait? And can jubilant conservation-ists expect more wilderness legislation to pass in this Congress?

In contemplating answers to these questions, Paul Spitler, The Wilderness Society’s national wilderness campaigns associate director, distills in two words the lessons learned by conservationists during 45 years of advocacy: “strategic pragmatism.” The process involves identifying and prioritizing landscapes and developing strong local alliances to move a bill through Congress.

Says Spitler, “Ninety percent of the outreach work hap-pens at the local level before a bill has been introduced. It’s an exceedingly time-intensive, resource-intensive, and slow process.”—a process that must include secur-ing the support of members of Congress who represent the area; only one wilderness bill has ever passed over the unanimous objections of the state delegation: the Alaska Lands Act.

Consultant Larry Romans helps The Wilderness Society and its grassroots partners champion wilderness bills in Congress. He sees an increased commitment to protect-ing wilderness for future generations. “Wilderness is

someplace specific,” he explains. “You can see it. You can feel it, experience it. Big issues like energy and climate change are harder.” From Washington’s Alpine Lakes to Virginia’s ridges and valleys, he sees “an influx of new people concerned about the environment, who want to work on behalf of their special areas.”

Western governors now campaign successfully on platforms that value public lands and water resources in a New West where “issues of community and quality of life matter,” according to Watson. A growing number of Capitol Hill Republicans realize that New Westerners value the same open space honored by generations of families tied to the land.

Meanwhile, administrations come and go, some receptive and some less so. The Obama administration came in receptive, and found numerous wilderness proposals ready for legislative action after many years of slow progress, due mostly to congressional leaders who were less supportive of land conservation. Craig Allin, a scholar of wilderness politics at Iowa’s Cornell College, believes this creates an “accidental opportunity” for wilderness legislation.

While waiting for the return of the pendulum, citizens’ co-operative groups flowered—galvanized by the extremism of the Timber Wars, the Sagebrush Rebellion, and the Bush years. Local stakeholders found willing partners in unlikely places—pragmatists ready to look for common ground. Every community, every wilderness is unique; a col-

laborative group can craft a proposal to fit the needs of communities and the land. So much of what happens in these collaborations consists of education—taking field trips together, blasting away misconceptions as stakeholders become friends, building trust. There is also a growing body of evidence that preserved lands are criti-cal to the economic health of many rural areas while the importance of extractive industries is diminishing.

Utah is another state with tremendous wilderness poten-tial—and a history of contentious debate about wilder-ness. The big 2009 bill included a hard-won compromise that created 14 BLM wilderness areas in Washington County (home to Zion National Park), and conserva-tionists hope to build on this success and thereby protect wilderness-quality landscapes in other redrock counties in Utah. To take advantage of such opportunities, The Wilderness Society has opened an office in Utah and hired Julie Mack as state director.

Today, local elected officials testify in favor of wilderness bills right along with Wilderness Society staff. Procedur-al hurdles still exist in Congress, but after a long drought, Spitler says, “we have re-learned how to pass wilderness legislation.” When agencies and members of Congress see allies and opponents coming together, they, too, can act boldly. More than two dozen bills will be in play during this Congress, with the potential to protect more than three million acres of wilderness. Some of the areas would be added to the National Wilderness Preservation

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Growth of the National Wilderness Preservation System


System, now at 109 million acres, while others would receive protection by becoming, say, a national conserva-tion area to be managed as part of the National Land-scape Conservation System.

These new wilderness proposals range from Maine’s coastal islands to New Mexico mesas and California des-erts. Craig Gehrke, The Wilderness Society’s Idaho direc-tor (and co-chair of the Owyhee group), and colleague Brad Brooks are working with mill owners and county commissioners, off-road vehicle users and outfitters, foresters and tribal leaders, saying, “Do we have critical mass here for wilderness? Do we have critical mass here for some forest restoration work? What could we do together to create a package better than the status quo?” These Idaho partnerships have crafted two initiatives, one to protect the stunningly alpine White Clouds, the other to conserve the Clearwater Basin.

Montana Senator Jon Tester has introduced a legislative package that builds on three collaborative efforts in the western part of his state—the Blackfoot-Clearwater, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, and the Three Rivers Chal-lenge in the Yaak Valley. According to Peter Aengst, The Wilderness Society’s Northern Rockies deputy director, three themes tie the bill together. Each regional plan promotes new forestry approaches, combining forest restoration with help for the timber economy. Each includes wilderness and other designations that preserve the recreation values that “make Montana Montana.” And all began with collaborative groups.

Conservationists recognize the need to have a sustainable timber industry in Montana in order to restore land-scapes. “Under a concept called ‘stewardship

contracting,’ the timber companies are simultaneously cutting logs for a mill and restoring areas damaged by previous logging projects. Without a timber industry, it would be hard for the Forest Service to do this resto-ration,” said Aengst. “We are confident that there is a middle ground.”

Writer Rick Bass agrees. He has volunteered with the Yaak Valley Forest Council for decades, relentless in his willingness to talk to anyone, anywhere. He is delighted with Tester’s “science-based bill, which protects all exist-ing core grizzly habitat and old growth in the Yaak while

still creating local jobs.” The Yaak

Continued on page 62

The Wilderness Society is building public support for proposed wilderness areas at Upper Bald River on the Tennessee-North Carolina border (above) and Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge (below).

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Sometime in early August, during one of the first chilly nights of the season in Yellowstone National Park, a western tanager will awaken, fly to the

top of a lodgepole pine tree, and launch itself into the ink-black sky, thereby beginning the first leg of its annual migration to its winter quarters in western Mexico. In March, as snow piles up inside Yellowstone, herds of bison will leave the park in search of accessible forage.

Yellowstone National Park, like virtually all of our public lands, is filled with migratory animals, including birds, mammals, fish, and insects, a diverse array of creatures employing a diverse array of navigational tricks to reach destinations across the West and across the hemisphere. These animals are, for the most part, driven by op-portunism. They take advantage of abundant food and

other resources that are present in Yellowstone for only a portion of the year. For the western tanager, the park’s coniferous forests offer a smorgasbord of insects dur-ing the spring and summer, more than enough to raise a family. But once the cold weather sets in and the insects disappear, tanagers and other birds must find somewhere else to spend the winter. Similarly, Yellowstone’s lush meadows and grasslands can sustain thousands of bison and elk during the warm months, but heavy snow may eventually render that food inaccessible, forcing them to move to lower elevations inside and outside the park.

In addition to opportunism, one other characteristic unites Yellowstone’s diverse migrants: vulnerability. Logging and farming are destroying the montane forests of Mexico and Central America where western tanagers

(and many other birds from the western U.S. and Canada) seek refuge during the winter. The fragile riparian woodlands that serve as crucial rest and refueling stops for them as they pass through the deserts of the Southwest are being degraded by overgraz-ing and development, while obstacles and dangers of all sorts—from skyscrapers to feral cats—have made the entire route more dangerous.

By DavID s. WIlcove

Evidence suggests that over half of the elk migratory routes and three-quarters of the pronghorn routes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been destroyed by residential development, oil and gas exploration, and the building of fences and other barriers.

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for bison, the primary enemies are a tiny bacte-rium and a lot of intolerance. The bacterium Brucella abortus was brought into the U.S. via imported cattle from Europe, and it spread to Yellowstone’s bison a century ago. Brucellosis (as the disease is called) has little effect on bison. Ranchers, however, detest it because it causes some of their cows to abort their fetuses and reduce their milk production. Fear of brucellosis has made Montana’s politicians and agriculture officials determined to keep Yellowstone’s bison away from Montana’s cattle. Unfortunately, a small number of ranchers continue to graze livestock on public and private lands adjacent to the park. So when bison leave the park, as often happens during harsh winters, state and federal officials first try to chase

them back, using helicopters, snowmobiles, off-road vehicles, and people on horseback. Those that refuse

to return are killed.

Nor are bison the only big mammals in trouble in Yellowstone. Biologist Joel Berger has estimated that over half of the elk migratory routes and three-quarters of the pronghorn routes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have been destroyed by residential develop-ment, oil and gas exploration, and the building of fences and other barriers.

Across the country and across the world, migratory ani-mals are declining as their journeys become increasingly treacherous. This loss is not only aesthetic but ecological. Birds, for example, help to keep populations of defoliating insects in check, thereby reducing damage to our forests and croplands. Bison increase the productivity of grass-lands by consuming the older, rank forage and by redis-tributing nutrients via their dung, all of which benefits other plants and animals, including pronghorn, prairie dogs, and grassland birds. Migratory salmon sustain griz-zly bears, bald eagles, and other animals. The list goes on.

“No man is an island, entire of itself,” proclaimed the poet John

Donne. The same holds true for our national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, and other public lands. The well-being of many of the animals found on our pub-lic lands depends greatly on what happens on adjacent lands or even in distant countries. Saving these animals will require greater coordination among individuals, agencies, and nations, combined with a commitment to protecting them while they are still common. Migration is fundamentally a phenomenon of abundance. If we wait until these species are close to extinction, we will have lost both the glory and the ecological value of migration.

David S. Wilcove is a profes-sor of ecology, evolutionary biology, and public affairs at Princeton University and the author of No Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations.

After a summer of feasting on insects in the Northern Rockies, western tanagers head south, some flying as far south as Mexico. Their survival depends on suitable winter and summer habitat, as well as stops along the route that meet their needs.


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[I]t is the conviction of an increasing number that we have reached the time when our at-titude toward the American Wilderness should be one of preservation and not of exploita-tion. And a preservation of such a nature that our wild areas will be kept sound-proof as well as sight-proof from our increasingly mechanized life. To integrate and make vocal this growing sentiment is a crying need of the times. –Harold C. Anderson, December 1937

The citizens of New York State won a great wilderness victory during the past year by retaining in their new constitution those provisions which have successfully protected the wilderness areas of their state for 44 years. –George Marshall, March 1939

Conservationists throughout the nation will be both amazed and angered when they hear that lumbering interests are proposing to cut trees in the Olympic National Park in northwestern Washington… Representing this proposal as a needed measure for war-veteran housing is shameful hypocrisy… In the state of Washington there are available tim-ber resources adequate to provide the needed lumber for many millions of 5-room houses without in any way invading national park or other wilderness areas. –June 1946

To tolerate the possibility of building the Echo Park dam would certainly jeopar-dize this public policy of national park preservation. So, turning back this threatened inva-sion has been a reaffirmation of the sanctity of all the areas which the Nation has dedicated for preservation. –Winter-Spring 1955-1956

In his address, “The Need for Wilderness Areas,” the executive secretary of The Wilderness Society, Mr. Howard Zahniser, had not only discussed our various needs for areas of wilderness and the underlying philosophy for their appreciation. He had also pro-posed a practical program for preserving a system of such areas… –U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (chief author of Wilderness Act in Senate), Winter-Spring 1956-1957

The Wilderness Act has been called a benchmark in our civilization. Indeed it is. For only in a civilized culture, in a climax period of man’s intellectual, social, economic, and forward grace, could a wilderness preservation concept capture the national mind and be made a law of the land. –editorial, Spring-Summer 1965

The Wilderness Society hereby goes on record for the maximum commitment for saving the irreplaceable redwoods. The Society believes that the American people and their Congress sincerely want a Redwood National Park and that the best interests of all will be

In October 1934 four men on an American Forestry Association field trip in the Smokies pulled their car to the side of the road and got out to discuss creation of an organization to protect America’s wilderness. Three months later, in Washington’s Cosmos Club, they made it official. There were eight founders: Bob Marshall, Aldo Leopold, Benton MacKaye, Robert Sterling Yard, Harvey Broome, Bernard Frank, Ernest Oberholtzer, and Harold Anderson.

Seventy-five years later, The Wilderness Society continues to pursue the mission that they established. Below are excerpts from Wilderness magazine, originally titled The Living Wilderness.

saving the irreplaceable redwoods. The Society believes that the American people and their Congress sincerely want a Redwood National Park and that the best interests of all will be

for preservation. sion has been a reaffirmation of the sanctity of all the areas which the Nation has dedicated

The Wilderness Act has been called a benchmark in our civilization. Indeed it is. For only in a civilized culture, in a climax period of man’s intellectual, social, economic, and

To tolerate the possibility of building the Echo Park dam would certainly jeopardize this public policy of national park preservation. So, turning back this threatened inva-

Wilderness Act author Howard Zahniser, with a friend

George Marshall, Olaus Murie, Harvey Broome, Bernard Frank and Ernest Griffith

Bob Marshall, Robert H. Weidman, C.G. Kempff, and Dean F.G. Miller


served by supporting the acquisition of the largest possible acreage of these giant trees wherever they may be before it is forever too late. –Governing Council, Spring-Summer 1967

At the core of all this, we think, is a conceptual problem common to many public domain states. Residents tend to look at a state’s borders and to think of everything therein as “ours.” But it isn’t. Of Alaska’s 375 million acres, 97 percent still belongs to the American people as a whole—not just the 300,000 who have taken up residence there. And the remain-ing 200 million Americans should have something to say about what is done with this great national treasure. –Richard C. Olson (editor), Special Alaska Issue, 1972

For us at The Society, December 2, 1980 was a special day, culminating nearly a half-century of dedication and hard work…The Alaska Lands Act protects more land than any single piece of legislation ever passed by Congress. It designates an area the size of California as national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers and other conser-vation areas—a total of more than 102 million acres. The size of the National Wilderness Preservation System is nearly trebled… –Spring 1981

The U.S. House of Representatives sent a clear message to the Senate in Au-gust when it passed a bipartisan bill (H.R. 6542) banning oil and gas leasing in wilderness areas by an overwhelming six-to-one margin and soundly defeated two amendments which would have significantly weakened protections for wilderness areas. The House vote was a major blow to Interior Secretary James Watt’s pro-development policies and a major victory for wilderness. –Fall 1982

The roadless areas in the Yaak, and most other unprotected roadless areas in our national forests, will stay road-free if the Clinton administration follows through with its draft plan released in May. There are 60 million acres of these lands…Three years ago 169 scientists wrote President Clinton to urge him to save roadless areas, which “act as de facto refugia for numerous sensitive plant and animal species, reservoirs of genetic material, and benchmarks for experimental restoration efforts in intensively managed landscapes.” –Rick Bass, 2000

President Clinton was a bit slow to appreciate his legacy responsibilities. In the first term he used the Antiquities Act only once, albeit for a masterpiece, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, Then, in his second term, the president found his muse, uncapped his pen, and made conservation history with 18 more monuments and expansions of three others. –Bruce Babbitt (former Interior Secretary), 2001-2002

Working with tribal members is natural for (Public Policy staffer Yvette) Hill, whose four grandparents include an Iroquois, a Piscataway, and a Lumbi, as well as a Spaniard. She helped secure resolutions opposing Arctic drilling from the National Council on American Indians and the Navajo Nation… Hill has been successful at persuading members of the Congressional Black Caucus to co-sponsor legislation that would make the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain a fully protected wilderness area. The caucus holds an annual conference, and Hill coor-dinates the effort to staff a Wilderness Society booth…. “Of course, a big part of my job,” Hill explains, “is listening and trying to understand how wilderness and wildlife touch people with widely varying perspectives.” –2001-2002

We must demonstrate now to the proponents of Arctic drilling that the energy crisis they are committed to exploiting, even in the name of national se-curity, will not result in compromising the Arctic or the Interior West or any other areas of fragile, wild beauty. Public lands are our public commons—places of peace, places of freedom. We have never needed wilderness more. –Terry Tempest Williams, 2001-2002

We helped derail Bush administration proposals to sell national forest lands and acreage overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. –2007-2008

wildlife touch people with widely varying perspectives.” –2001-2002

protected wilderness area. The caucus holds an annual conference, and Hill coordinates the effort to staff a Wilderness Society booth…. “Of course, a big part of dinates the effort to staff a Wilderness Society booth…. “Of course, a big part of my job,” Hill explains, “is listening and trying to understand how wilderness and my job,” Hill explains, “is listening and trying to understand how wilderness and dinates the effort to staff a Wilderness Society booth…. “Of course, a big part of

used the Antiquities Act only once, albeit for a masterpiece, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, Then, in his second term, the president found his muse, uncapped Monument in southern Utah, Then, in his second term, the president found his muse, uncapped his pen, and made conservation history with 18 more monuments and expansions of three others. –Bruce Babbitt (former Interior Secretary), 2001-2002

Monument in southern Utah, Then, in his second term, the president found his muse, uncapped his pen, and made conservation history with 18 more monuments and expansions of three others.

For us at The Society, December 2, 1980 was a special day, culminating nearly a half-century of dedication and hard work…The Alaska Lands Act protects more land than any half-century of dedication and hard work…The Alaska Lands Act protects more land than any single piece of legislation ever passed by Congress. It designates an area the size of California as half-century of dedication and hard work…The Alaska Lands Act protects more land than any

Mardy Murie receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Reagan’s Interior Secretary, James Watt

President Carter signing the Alaska Lands Act

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everyone Wants clean energy—But Where Do We Put the turBInes?

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thenation’s growing commitment to clean energy has triggered unprecedented inter-

est in finding sites for renewable energy development on federal land. Lured by billions of dollars in new govern-ment tax credits, grants, and loan guarantees, solar and wind power developers are scouring the nation’s desert flats and mountain passes to find the places with the greatest potential.

Today, renewables account for less than two percent of the nation’s electric power. The White House wants to boost that to 10 percent by the end of 2010, and 25 percent by 2025. Thirty-six states also want to boost their shares of energy from renewable sources, with California aiming for 33 percent. The federal grants and subsidies—part of the economic stimulus bill passed by Congress in February—are key to accelerating that transition.

Nearly a third of all U.S. energy comes from public lands and waters, with more than a third of the country’s oil, gas and coal produced from leases managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Coal accounts for the bulk of that energy. As part of the federal effort to boost public lands’ renewable energy production, the BLM and Department of Energy released preliminary “Solar Energy Study Area” maps in June for Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

All together, the 24 sites, covering 670,000 acres, could generate as much as 130,000 megawatts of electricity. (One megawatt can power 300 to 1,000 homes, depend-ing on location and house type.)

The BLM expects to release a draft programmatic en-vironmental impact statement (PEIS) for solar energy development later this year, identifying which of those areas are best suited for solar projects and offering guid-ance on how to reduce any impacts.

In addition to reviewing these study areas, the BLM is processing 470 applications for specific renewable en-ergy projects on public lands, including nearly 200 solar ones, along with many wind and geothermal applica-tions. Many of these individual applications have been criticized by those who say they pay inadequate attention to such issues as habitat protection and water use. But many environmental groups, including The Wilderness Society, praised the broader PEIS process’s goal of pro-tecting sensitive lands by guiding projects to appropriate places for development.

The Wilderness Society views its engagement in renew-able energy issues as an integral part of its efforts to protect wildlands. “Like any energy development, these utility-scale projects are going to damage land, but we

Most conservationists are fervent believers in shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, but they need to make difficult choices about where the wind turbines, solar panels, and other infrastructure will be built.

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also see them as an unavoidable and necessary part of the total energy and climate picture,” explained Alex Daue of the group’s BLM Action Center in Denver. “Our goal is to minimize the impact of these projects on public land. And we believe that the Obama administration offers us a chance to wisely shape where and how those projects are constructed.”

In 2008, The Wilderness Society developed a set of prin-ciples on how to balance renewable energy development and land conservation. They call for dramatically increas-ing energy efficiency, reducing overall demand, and developing roof-top solar and other forms of distributed generation. The principles also support putting larger-

scale renewable energy plants on already disturbed lands whenever possible and giving renewable energy projects priority over fossil-fuel-based energy on public lands.

Some environmental groups oppose any “utility-scale” renewable energy development, claiming that distributed generation, like rooftop-solar panels, could meet the demand.

But even the Vote Solar Initiative, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that first championed residential-scale solar in 2002, now also pushes for utility-scale facilities. “You need to do energy efficiency, you need to do as much as you can with distributed [residential] generation, but large-scale solar is a piece of that puzzle,” explained Jim Baak, the group’s policy director for utility-scale solar. “A 250-megawatt plant [the average utility-scale solar proj-ect] built in the desert would have an immediate impact.”

Homes produce about 2.5 kilowatts per rooftop under ideal circumstances, so it would take 100,000 houses to equal a single solar plant. Considering the less-than-ideal weather of San Francisco or Seattle, the appeal of larger-scale solar plants in sunnier places becomes obvious.

“The renewable energy that’s affordable now are the large-scale facilities that take advantage of good energy resources in less-populated areas,” said John H. Rogers,

senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists. And based on their climate-change models, sci-entists stress that emissions must be cut now, he added. “Whether you’re looking at shorelines, or forests, or health, or winter sports, our choices make a difference, in some cases a very stark difference.”

During the Bush administration, oil and gas called the shots. The Obama-era BLM has taken a broad-er approach, clustering many of the preliminary solar energy study areas near existing power lines and away 0

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“Our goal is to minimize the impact of these projects on public land. And we believe that the Obama administration offers us a chance to wisely shape where and how those projects are constructed.”

www.wilderness.org

“Whether they are ‘fast–tracked’ or not, we’re still going to do site-specific evaluations,”

The Wilderness Society has developed a set of principals for selecting the most suitable public lands sites for large facilities like the one above.

from ecologically sensitive lands, reflecting key recom-mendations voiced by environmentalists. “They’re asking for our input,” said Chase Huntley, a Wilderness Society energy and climate policy advisor. “This is a dramatic change from the previous administration, where deci-sions were crammed down our throats. We have the op-portunity to learn from past mistakes managing oil and natural gas development and create a better approach.”

Not everyone is convinced that the PEIS process will work. Bruce Pavlik, a biology professor at Mills College in Oakland and an expert on Southern California’s desert ecology, worries that the PEIS deadlines won’t allow enough time to evaluate the huge projects. “It’s another gold rush, a rush that will needlessly degrade public re-sources under the guise of ‘energy independence,’ ‘global warming’ and ‘change we can believe in,’” he said.

Under a $1.1 billion Treasury Department tax-credit pro-gram, renewable energy developers who break ground by December 2010 can write off 30 percent of their costs upfront—instead of spreading the tax credits over several years under an existing energy production program.

Ray Brady, the BLM’s national energy team manager, acknowledges the grants deadline “puts the pressure on us to expedite the processing.” But the BLM must first approve each project, and he estimates that only about two dozen are likely to be approved in time. “Whether they are ‘fast–tracked’ or not, we’re still going to do site-specific evaluations,” he said.

In the future, the larger PEIS process should help the BLM get beyond handling applications one by one. Instead, Brady said, the big-picture approach should reduce the overall impact of renewable energy proj-ects on public lands.

Daue said well-intentioned people will disagree on the right role for public lands in the broader ener-gy solution. “Conservationists face some tough choices,” he said. “By engaging now, we hope to protect public lands while helping shape a truly sustainable energy future.”

Mary Engel has been a staff writer for The Los Angeles Times and for newspapers in Alaska and New Mexico. Nolan Hester, her husband, is a long-time environmental reporter and former managing editor of Alaska magazine. They are writing about the West as they travel across it this year.

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Wilderness TreasuresNow celebrating its 45th birthday, the National Wilderness Preservation System has grown to more than 109 million acres. Many more of our natural treasures deserve to be permanently protected, and you will find a number of them on the following pages.

Wilderness TreasuresNow celebrating its 45th birthday, the National Wilderness Preservation System has grown to more than 109 million acres. Many more of our natural treasures deserve to be permanently protected, and you will find a number of them on the following pages.


Gold Butte, a two-hour drive east from Las Vegas, is rich in Native American petroglyphs and other archaeological treasures. It is home to desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoises, and unique geologic formations, but mushrooming off-road vehicle traffic is a serious threat. © DaVID bLy

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“Wild Eden” was the title of an Arizona Highways story on the Tumacacori Highlands of southeastern Arizona. A birder’s paradise, the Highlands harbor the five-striped sparrow, the gray hawk, and the brilliant red and green Elegant Trogon, among others. The endangered American jaguar also has been seen in the area. We are working with Congressman Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) to add it to the National Wilderness Preservation System. © JESS LEE

tumacacori highlands


Western Colorado is blessed with a number of spectacular wilderness areas. But in the midst of these mostly high-elevation spots, primarily at middle elevations, are the so-called Hidden Gems. They lie within White River National Forest and surrounding BLM lands. We are working with allies to add hundreds of thousands of acres of the “Gems” to the Wilderness System. © LISa SmItH

hidden gems

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The Alpine Lakes Wilderness, within an hour of downtown Seattle, is one of the most-visited of the 756 areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Legislation (S. 721, H.R. 1769) introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) would add 22,000 acres, including lush river valley forests, to this popular area. © tHomaS o’kEEFE

alpine lakes

redrock canyonlands


redrock canyonlandsSouthern Utah’s stunning red rock canyonlands feature cliff dwellings, soaring desert buttes, stone towers, arches, slot canyons, and much more. We are working with our partners to persuade Congress to protect this unique part of the world. © tom tILL

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The fabled coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been called “America’s Serengeti” because of the 100,000 caribou that migrate hundreds of miles each spring to this wondrous place to give birth. This area also is vital to muskoxen, wolves, polar bears, and millions of migratory birds. But the oil industry wants to drill here. The surest way to prevent such development is to add this refuge’s biological heart to the Wilderness System. © 2009 StEVEn kazLoWSkI/aLaSkaStoCk.Com

arctic refuge


Just 35 miles from downtown L.A. lies the wild heart of the San Gabriel Mountains. We are urging Congress to add 30,000 acres of the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests to the National Wilderness Preservation System and 46 miles of rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. These lands are home to California condors, Nelson bighorn sheep, mountain lions, and black bears. © DEnnIS CHambErLaIn

san gabriel mountains

green jobs

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Ron Gold stepped briskly down the wide trail, glancing left and right to observe the restoration work his crew had completed in Olympic National Forest in northwestern Washington. Before Gold started the project, this route was an abandoned logging road, rutted and slumping. Culverts were failing, the land was sliding, and winter rains flushed loose soil downstream into the South Fork of the Skokomish River. This is just one road within one national forest. Yet the story of environmental degradation caused by past logging practices repeats itself across the country.

Years of excessive road building and logging in the Skokomish watershed in Olympic National Forest had a hand in 1,000 landslides, and now teams of workers are trying to restore the forest. Ron Gold (in hat) is guiding some of that work.

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Congress is increasing its focus on ecosystem restoration, creating thousands of jobs for people like Gold and his nine-person crew. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, is committed to it, as well, declaring in August: “Our shared vision begins with restoration.” His Forest Service chief, Tom Tidwell, has been widely praised for his restoration efforts as a regional director in the Northern Rockies.

When people talk about creating “green jobs,” they’re often referring to work in alternative energy fields, such as solar or wind energy. There are also green jobs in the woods, improving water quality, restoring habitat, and muting the effects of climate change. For every $1 million spent on res-toration, between 13 and 29 jobs are created, according to a study by University of Oregon economists. Labor-intensive work, such as tree-planting, produces more jobs than heavy-equipment projects, such as road work.

Restoration jobs vary from one forest to the next. During the 1970s and 1980s, Olympic National Forest was part of the wood basket of the nation. Old-growth trees were coming down, and the Skokomish became possibly the most logged-over watershed in the nation, according to Gold, who worked for the U.S. Forest Service at that time. “They were logging on high ground, where they never should have been logging,” he said.

By 1990, more than half of the watershed surrounding the South Fork of the Skokomish had been logged. With

nearly four miles of road for every square mile of forest, it became one of the most extensive road networks in the Northwest. Today, with too little money for maintenance, the roads are breaking apart. An estimated 1,000 landslides have brought sediment out of the high country, clogging the Skokomish River and causing frequent flooding of homes and farms. Healing the Skokomish watershed — from mountain top to saltwater — is the goal of the Skokomish Water-shed Action Team (SWAT), chaired by Mike Anderson of The Wilderness Society. The 38 members range from landowners to conservation groups to the Skokomish Indian Tribe. The road that Gold worked on is a favored shortcut for hikers and horseback riders headed into a darkened for-est of giant fir and cedar. With advice from the SWAT, the road was converted into a trail. Gold and his crew narrowed the path, replaced culverts, regraded landslide areas, and planted vegetation. Until recently, much of this work was funded through stewardship contracting, which Congress authorized in 1999. For the first time, receipts from some timber sales could remain with the forest district and be used to pay for restoration projects that the Forest Service otherwise couldn’t afford. Stewardship projects also require

For every $1 million spent on restoration, between 13 and 29 jobs are created, according to a study by University of Oregon economists. Restoration is also underway in Montana’s Gallatin National Forest (above), where Heather Long, owner and manager of HL Construction, is reading 21 pages of engineering specifications.

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collaboration among diverse stakeholders—conserva-tionists, local businesses, academics, and timber inter-ests—to design and monitor both the harvesting and restoration work. Between 2003 and 2008, the Forest Service awarded 535 stewardship contracts. One of the first stewardship projects, the Clearwater Ecosystem Management and Timber Sale, provided for harvesting 640 acres across 6,800 acres in Montana’s Lolo National Forest. A local company, Pyramid Moun-tain Lumber, won the bid. In exchange for nearly $1 mil-lion worth of timber, the company undertook a two-year restoration project, using eight subcontractors. Thinning and controlled burning improved forest health in stands of lodgepole pine, according to the Forest Service. About 50 miles of road were removed to benefit “threatened” grizzly bear and bull trout. The project replaced seven culverts, added 18 vault toilets in camp-grounds, restored two miles of stream bank, reduced noxious weeds, and created nine scenic turnouts along the popular Clearwater Loop Road. “The Clearwater project was one of the first where we started seeing amazing results,” said Debbie Austin, supervisor of Lolo National Forest. Because of the high value of timber, the number of jobs created turned out to be greater than in most stewardship contracts — 69 direct jobs and 79 indirect jobs, according to a study by Joe Kerkvliet, an economist with The Wilderness Society.

Although often successful, stewardship contracts can create an inherent conflict, said Bethanie Walder, execu-tive director of Wildlands CPR. “Even in a good market, stewardship contracts do not tend to generate enough money for watershed restoration,” she said. And, unless the timber harvest is scientifically justified, “you don’t always get a net benefit.” Logging roads remained a vexing problem. In 2007 U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) called for a new “Legacy Roads Program.” He chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees Forest Service spending. “If we do not fix our roads,” Dicks declared at a hearing, “we will have to drink our roads — after they slide into our streams.” In 2008, Congress appropriated $40 million for the program, upping it to $50 million in 2009. Walder applauds the new spending, saying restoration no longer depends on “extraction” of timber or minerals. Earlier this year, when Congress passed a new stimulus package to get the economy moving, the Forest Service was standing by with hundreds of “shovel-ready” proj-ects. The agency was given $228 million to repair roads and bridges plus $224 million for thinning and other steps to reduce the risk of extreme fires. Those investments are creating thousands of jobs, said Kerkvliet. Still, nobody should forget the real reason for restoring ecosystems. “The reason is not so much

Rich in old-growth trees, the Skokomish became possibly the most logged-over watershed in the National Forest System, according to Gold, who worked for the U.S. Forest Service at that time. “They were logging on high ground, where they never should have been logging,” he said.

Continued on page 59

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Wewill soon celebrate a milestone in American conservation history. The year 2010 is the

50th anniversary of the establishment of a landmark wilderness, and now a symbol of the dilemma we face re-garding our effect on the global environment: the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Much of the credit for the protection of this special place belongs to Olaus Murie, an eminent government biolo-gist sent to Alaska in the 1920s to conduct a detailed six-year study of the territory’s caribou herds. With his new wife, Mardy, he took off on a 550-mile boat and dogsled research honeymoon through the Brooks Range, recounted in Mardy’s book Two in the Far North.

In 1956, when Olaus was director of The Wilderness Society, the Muries led a five-member, summer-long expedition to the heart of a proposed nine-million-acre wilderness in northeastern Alaska. Conservationists persuaded the Eisenhower administration to issue an executive order in 1960 establishing the Arctic National Wildlife Range. In 1980, the Alaska Lands Act enlarged the range, designated half of it as wilderness, and re-named it the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is best known for its caribou, polar bears, muskoxen, and other large mammals. But in their stud-ies, the Muries focused on the interrelatedness and equal value of all life forms. Mice and sparrows received their full attention, as did the 23 species of spiders and 40 spe-cies of lichens the Muries catalogued. Here was one of the nation’s few remaining ecological systems fully intact and large enough for scientific study of how nature func-tions when left alone.

The Muries also believed the area ought to be left unaltered for the unique recreational opportunities it af-forded, although “recreation” is a wholly insufficient term for the experiences they wanted to be available here.

This should remain an adventuring ground, they believed, the antithesis of the domesticated and conve-nience-orientated tourism that national parks were pro-moting at the time. Visitors could come to this remnant of frontier America to experience the conditions that helped shape our national character. They could explore and discover, experience freedom and self-reliance, and confront challenge, even hardship.

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BY ROGER KAYE

“For those who are willing to exert themselves for this experience, there is a great gift to be won,” Mardy wrote, “a gift to be had nowadays in very few remaining parts of our plundered planet—the gift of personal satisfaction, the personal well-being purchased by striving.” She went on to become a member of The Wilderness Society’s Governing Council, and her decades of environmental leadership earned her a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2003.

As the Muries intended, the struggle over the future of this distant place did become emblematic of the larger contest between competing views of the appropriate relationship between post-war American society and its rapidly changing environment. This Arctic wilderness exemplified the natural qualities the Muries sought to protect in a Wilderness Act, passed four years later. As well, its purpose embodied their larger hope for the wil-derness concept—that it might stimulate Americans to think beyond conservation of resources to the protection of whole ecosystems and beyond that, to rethink their relationship to the larger biosphere we jointly inhabit.

Since 1987 the refuge has been at the center of a conten-tious national debate over whether its biological heart, the coastal plain, should become an oil and gas field. Conservationists, the Gwich’in Nation, and others have turned back repeated efforts by the oil industry and polit-ical allies to authorize drilling. But the struggle goes on. For the Gwich’in, the stakes are particularly high. If drill-ing were allowed in the caribou calving grounds, these Athabascan Indians could lose not only their primary food source, but the very focus of their cultural identity.

Today, we again face a new order of environmental threat. Increasingly, scientists warn of a non-analog future, a “perfect storm” convergence of global energy and resource scarcity, climate change, and widespread environmental al-terations. Again, the Arctic Refuge serves as a point of ref-erence for rethinking our national conservation policy. It has come to symbolize the question of where we will draw the line on our profligate energy use and unsustainable be-havior toward nature. The Arctic Refuge remains the finest example of the wilderness that serves, in Wallace Stegner’s phrase, as “our geography of hope.”

Roger Kaye, Ph.D., has been a wilderness specialist and pilot at the Arctic National Wild-life Refuge since 1985. He is the author of Last Great Wilderness: The Campaign to Establish the Arctic Na-tional Wildlife Refuge.

Shaggy survivors of the Ice Age, muskoxen roam the Arctic Refuge, which was explored by Mardy and Olaus Murie. Their advocacy during their years with The Wilderness Society helped persuade the Eisenhower administration to protect the area in 1960.


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by Doreen Cubie

public lands: a bridge to the future

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“Keeping our public lands wild is the most effective and least expensive thing we can do to give wildlife the time and space they need to adapt,” says Wendy Loya, an ecologist for The Wilderness Society in Anchorage. “Some changes will push species to the edge.” According to Loya, wilderness gives species the opportunity to make adjustments. For instance, global warming may cause plants to flower before their pollina-tors emerge. “In large wildlands,” says Loya, “there is a greater chance these species will find the right conditions to re-synchronize their life cycles.”

To illustrate the make-or-break importance of public land management choices, she points to Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. This sanctuary sprawls across the northeastern interior of Alaska, featuring an intri-cate mosaic of more than 20,000 shallow lakes, numer-ous bogs, and many meandering and braided streams. Caribou, grizzly and black bear, wolves, and moose call the refuge home. Salmon migrate as far as 2,000 miles up the Yukon River to spawn within its borders. Trumpeter swans, Pacific loons, and over a dozen species of ducks nest in its wetlands.

But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was considering a swap of refuge lands for property owned by the Doyon Corporation, which wants to drill for oil and gas across more than 200,000 acres. “It would have fragmented the refuge, essentially breaking it in two,” says Loya. In addition, this drilling, which uses large quantities of water, might have altered the hydrology of the refuge. “It would have increased the drying that is already occurring

as a result of global warming,” says Loya, further deplet-ing many of the lakes that dot the refuge. “If we lost the lowland lakes, it would be bad news for the birds.” The Wilderness Society, Gwich’in and Yukon River tribes, and others fought the proposal, and in July 2009 the agency decided to reject the deal.

For some animals, like the pika, a diminutive relative of the rabbit that lives in high-alpine habitat in the West, it may already be too late. Pikas are running out of room as the increase in temperatures drives them higher and higher.

For many wildlife species, the odds of survival were already long enough, with species disappearing at a high rate. Changes in the climate are making those odds even longer. Can our national forests, wildlife refuges, and parks and other such areas help these creatures hang on?

Wildlife will need large protected landscapes to adapt as the climate changes at a rapid rate. Bears, loons, trumpeter swans, and pikas are among the species facing serious challenges.

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But many species can be saved. “That’s why wilderness is so critical,” says Loya. It provides corridors, giving animals and even plants, the ability to move to more suitable habitat. Landscape connectivity is important everywhere, but is especially so in the fragmented public lands of the East. “Wildland protection and restoration of healthy ecosystems is the number-one thing we can do right now to help all of the inhabitants of our planet adapt to climate change.”

Another important role for the public lands is to store carbon. Large, mature forests, prairies, and tundra rely on greenhouse gases for their growth and therefore reduce quantities in the air. A 2008 report by Loya and Wilder-ness Society resource economist Ann Ingerson found that not only did public forests sequester more carbon than private forests, but reserved lands, such as desig-nated wilderness areas and national parks, where logging is prohibited, typically hold the most carbon of all.

The carbon-storage role of mature forests, especially old-growth forests, has only recently been documented. Dr. Tom DeLuca, senior forest ecologist with The Wilder-ness Society, along with University of Montana graduate

student Sarah Bisbing, investigated ancient forests in western Montana. They learned that old-growth stands store approximately three times more carbon than nearby second-growth woodlands.

For many years, says Beverly Law, a professor of global change and forest science at Oregon State University, conventional wisdom held that forests more than 150 years old were carbon-neutral, giving off as much carbon as they take up from the atmosphere. “This was based on a study done in the 1960s,” says Law, “but those research-ers studied a single plantation forest over a ten-year pe-riod. A lot of us have realized for some time that this was wrong, but we waited until we had the data to support it.” Last year, in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature, Law and her coauthors documented that old-growth forests continue to sequester carbon. “Old-growth forests accumulate carbon for centuries and contain large quantities of it,” says Law.

In another study, published during the summer of 2009, several forestry professors at Oregon State University, including Law, discovered that the potential of Pacific Northwest forests to store additional carbon is among

Large amounts of carbon are stored in places such as Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.

“Old-growth forests continue to sequester carbon.”© SItka ConSErVatIon SoCIEty


the highest in the world. After analyzing data from 15,000 plots in Oregon and northern California over a 20-year period, the scientists determined that allowing all of the forest stands in the region to increase in age by 50 years would increase their potential to store carbon by 15 percent.

Forests in other parts of the United States also have the potential to be carbon sinks, places that accumulate and hold carbon for an indefinite period. Ecologists at Mc-Gill University and the University of Wisconsin recently found that temperate forests in eastern North America are sequestering only part of their historic carbon potential.

“Carbon is stored in the trunk, branches, and roots of trees, and also in the residue around them on the forest floor,” says David Moulton, who helped create the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warm-ing in the U.S. House of Representatives and now serves as director of climate policy for The Wilderness Society. “If you leave a mature forest alone, it can store huge amounts of carbon. Our forests may act as a bridge to a future when we will have cleaner energy. But we cannot carbon-sink our way out of global warming,” cautions Moulton. “Stop-ping emissions is the only long-term solution.”

That is the goal of the climate and energy bill (H.R. 2454) passed in June by the U.S. House of Representa-tives. This legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate, where it must get 60 votes to pass. “We simply cannot afford to delay action any longer,” Moulton stresses.

Curtailing harmful emissions is also critical to the sur-vival of healthy ecosystems and wildlife. Climate change is already triggering more forest fires and more droughts. It is also enabling spruce beetles and other insects to expand their range and damage forests that lack defense mechanisms. Glaciers are melting. Beaches and coast-lines are eroding. More severe storms, including hurri-canes, are likely to be in our future. And temperatures are rising. In Maine and New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, biologists have recorded an average temperature increase of four degrees during the winter months. This translates into less snow and more rain, with potentially disastrous consequences for everything from balsam fir to brook trout.

In addition, Ingerson points out, “The loss of forests, grasslands, and wetlands creates emissions, so expand-ing the public land base and concentrating development in already settled areas can help prevent greenhouse gas emissions just as effectively as insulating homes and installing solar panels.” Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of global emissions.

The national forests and other natural treasures that we have inherited have made our lives richer in many ways. If we allow them to help us fend off disastrous changes in the Earth’s climate—a role not foreseen when earlier leaders began protecting these places—it would be the biggest payoff yet.

Doreen Cubie of Awendaw, South Carolina, also writes for National Wildlife and Audubon.

Warmer water and the loss of ice are forcing beluga whales, walruses, and ice seals to adapt or eventually perish.

© LaUra morSE, noaa FISHErIES © USFWS © USFWS

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A GREAT PLACE TO VISIT:OwyheeCanyonlands NEW WILDERNESS IN A TImELESS LAND

By John McCarthy

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IN a world where “getting away from it all” gets tougher by the day, the Owyhee Canyonlands is

proof-positive that it is still possible. This new wilder-ness is a staple on lists of the most remote places in the United States.

Hiking is all off-trail, where a few miles across sage-brush plateaus or in and out of canyons can take all day. Boating—in kayak or canoe—requires long, rough drives to launch and take-out, portages without trails, and rock-hopping in-stream, where 10 river miles in a day can be exhausting. Even driving to the wilderness boundary is a challenge, with high-clearance, four-wheel-drive rigs often needed to creep in low-low granny gear across rocks and along cliffs.

The only relatively easy overview to this wild landscape, the largest and likely the wildest addition to the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) from the 2009 Omnibus Public Lands Bill, is on the Mud Flat Road. Also known as the Owyhee

Uplands Back Country Byway, the 104 dirt-road miles of natural wonders crisscrosses Owyhee County in south-west Idaho and ends just over the Oregon border. While it is passable in a car, leave the low-riders home.

Across the great expanse, you skirt the boundaries of three new wildernesses, drop in and out of one seg-ment of new North Fork Wild and Scenic River with a sheer canyon, see representations of all the high-desert habitats, and experience the full range of topographic gradients, from 2372 feet along the Snake River to views of South Mountain at 7802 feet.

You also get a glimpse of how vast, wild, and empty the Owyhee Canyonlands is and, now, will remain. And you

have a good chance to see pronghorns, mule deer, sandhill cranes, golden eagles, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, elk,

and mountain blue birds.

The same week that President Obama signed the bill back in March, one late after-noon I drove an hour and twenty minutes

Any way to get around the new Owyhee Wilderness in Idaho is slow. But any way you go is worth the effort.

A hiker overlooks Little Jacks Creek Wilderness near the Mud Flat Road.

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from downtown Boise out the Mud Flat Road to the edge of Little Jacks Wilderness. Leaving the truck at the BLM Poison Creek picnic area, with one of two pit toi-lets available on the whole road distance, I walked across the road into the three-day-old wilderness. A hare ran up a sand draw, where I followed through the sagebrush and bunchgrass slope leading to a rhyolite rock cliff band overhanging the first new wilderness in Idaho in 29 years.

Our trail to this wilderness victory took eight years of direct negotiations and work in Congress, and another dozen years of struggle beforehand to highlight this great landscape. In fact, the work is still not over; significant components of our cooperative agreements need to be fulfilled through land exchanges, conser-vation easements, and scientific studies. But now you, I, my kids, and your kids can park and walk across the road and be in wilderness.

Little Jacks is at the eastern end of the Mud Flat Road, near Grandview. At the other end is Jordan Valley, Oregon, with the Pole Creek Wilderness in the middle and the North Fork Owyhee Wilderness on the western side. Some people drive the whole Mud Flat in a long day, but stopping to set up a tent, park a camper, or sleep under the stars is the way to go. Across the juniper forests, mountain mahogany savannahs, sage brush hills, and rocky outcrops lay endless options to set up a camp, take a hike, have a picnic, or fill a memory card—in your head or in your camera.

The brochure produced by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says: “There are no services.” That means no potable water, gas, food, or lodging. You are on your own, outside cell phone range, with no regular patrol from any-one. North Fork crossing, at the edge of the wilderness, is the only official campground. It offers a pit toilet, picnic tables, and fire grates.

Along with the North Fork and its stems, suggestions for hiking jump-offs include (from west to east)

Pleasant Valley Creek, Current Creek, Deep Creek, Pole Creek, Battle Creek, and Shoofly

Creek. The creeks lead to canyons of vary-ing depths and provide orientation in

a land without trails and a precious

“There are no services.” That means no potable water, gas, food, or lodging.

You are on your own...

Camas bloom in wet swales in early Owyhee spring. Boaters brave rain, snow, hail, long portages and rapids in the short floating season.

Mountain bluebirds, the Idaho state bird, nest throughout the Owyhee country.

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few road signs. So be sure to take a map and compass, along with provisions.

Another spring weekend I hiked into the North Fork to camp along the canyon rim and melt snow for water. In early morning light, as I gathered juniper and sage sticks for a fire, nine elk walked out of the canyon. This two-night backpack trip followed a formula I’m perfecting: head out on the Mud Flat; ditch the truck at the edge of the wilderness; hike along a rutted road at the boundary for a mile or so; head cross country toward a canyon; set up camp under a juniper and explore from there. To fully celebrate the permanent wilderness, I joined three other guys on a week-long kayak trip through the heart of the Owyhee River Wilderness. Here we saw more fresh cougar tracks than human footprints. And we spent glorious days in solitude—often in pounding rain and hail, paddling against wicked-up canyon winds and contending with grueling portages, including a quarter-mile haul. Of course, all the effort was worth it.

The Owyhee Canyonlands provide a challenging op-portunity for exploration and adventure. Taking the Mud Flat Road, with ample time for stops along the way, is a great introduction to the land.

John McCarthy, our Idaho forest campaign director and a member of the conservation team that worked on the Owyhee Wilderness bill, is a former journalist.

For more details on driving the owyhee Mud Flat road, visit: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/info/publications.html.

you’ll find downloadable files including:• Birding the owyhee

uplands national Back-country Byway,

• Bruneau/owyhee river systems guide,

• historic silver city, • owyhee uplands

national Back country Byway, and

• general map and guide.

or call the BlM Public room: 208-373-3889.

you can get printed publications such as the owyhee up-lands Back country Byway (a detailed driving guide) and a BlM surface Man-agement 1:100,000 topographic map, triangle map, ($4) from BlM offices:

Bruneau Field office 3948 Development ave.Boise, ID 83705208-384-3300

owyhee Field office20 First avenue WestMarsing, ID 83639208-896-5912

to get information on the owyhee legislation, including unofficial wilderness maps, go to: http://www.blm.gov/id/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/owyhee_initiative.html

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oWyHEE WILDErnESS: VISItor InFormatIon

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Trees

Wind shuffles through oak, pine, liquid amber, elm.I can’t name their shades of green. I can’t know themlike I long to. Can’t translate their whispers.They have thrown down their shadows like old scarves.

Birds live inside them like small beating hearts.The bugs, savage, tunnel through to their fiery cores.They drip bright skeins of moss. They are trellisesfor ivy, the kudzu’s tiny suckered feet.

The cardinal’s red wings disappear in their leaves,leaves shaped like hearts, boats, needles, flutes,combs and cradles. Some survive eons. Generationsof bees swarm and return. They wear lightning strikes

like dark badges, smudged shields.They branch and branch from their limbs untilthere’s too much of them to comprehend. I love themwithout warning. They have traveled through centuriesto stand before me in their crippled dignity.

Dorianne Laux Raleigh, North Carolina

Three Pebbles

Like Moonlight Seen in a Well

Like moonlight seen in a well.

The one who sees itblocks it.

Mountain and Mouse

Both move.One only more slowly.

Opening the Hands Between Here and Here

On the dark road, only the weight of the rope. Yet the horse is there.

Jane Hirshfield Mill Valley, California

Solar Gain

Just breathingon a January afternoonwith the winter sunstreaming through the windowand kindling my cheeks.I’m being

efficient.Eyes closed, mind on idle, I’m thermal massand not much more.

I doze and dreamand store up warmth,generating some mildphotovoltaicsin the mind—

a maple treejust leafing out, robins chirrupingand two gray squirrelsleaping through.

Charles Goodrich Corvallis, Oregon

Crow Moon

Flightstrikes crowas such a good ideashe flaps and cawsat the thoughtof itmeanwhileoverheadhawk tilts a wingmindlessly adjustingthe winds.

Jody Gladding E. Calais, Vermont

Wildsong Edited by John Daniel


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Coming to Grips with an Old Fear By Elisabeth Hyde

Mention the word “fear” in the context of a Grand Canyon rafting trip, and most people think of giant rapids and turbulent whirlpools. But in 2002, during my first trip down the Colorado, I found myself confronting instead a long-forgotten fear of heights. And facing down this fear brought a new appreciation for the many roles the wilderness can play.

That July, our family embarked upon a two-week com-mercial float trip through the Canyon. It wasn’t my choice of a wilderness vacation — I’m more of a lake/mountain girl — but I was quickly bewitched by the extremes: scorching temperatures, icy-cold water, chaotic rapids, and towering red cliffs. Life was simple down here, with three basic concerns: Stay above water. Don’t get sunburned. Drink.

I could have easily spent all my time on the river itself, but our guides were big on hiking up

into the side canyons. These excursions often involved little more than hopscotching up a creek bed, with maybe a quiet pool at the end. We’d get back hot and sweaty, dunk ourselves in the river, and paddle on.

Then on day seven we stopped at Deer Creek Falls, where a long lacy waterfall spouts from high above. After we scrambled out for a frenzy of photos, our guide an-nounced a hike behind the falls, up into a slot canyon. It was fairly steep, he said, but well worth it.

The trail switchbacked through hot, dry talus, then led us into a voluptuous corridor of pancaked terra cotta walls. Far below, the creek scoured away. Our trail was a small horizontal ledge that kept narrowing until it seemed to vanish. But since it was

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wide enough for a Teva sandal, our guide simply flattened himself sideways like a hieroglyphic and shuffled across to where the ledge widened again.

One by one, everyone followed. But when it came my turn, I stopped short. Despite the 110º heat, I broke into a cold sweat.

“You coming?” the guide asked from across the divide.

No, I wasn’t—because suddenly I was back in northern Vermont, decades ago. We’d bushwacked up a moun-tainside that suddenly opened onto a steep rock face, too smooth to cross except for one glittering vein that wormed its way to the other side. Halfway across I lost confidence and leaned in to hug the wall—which sent my feet out from under me, my arms flailing as I slid 50 feet down into the rocky rubble below, bruised and bloodied and very, very shaken up.

Confidence is the name of the game in the wilderness. I had it when scrambling up a rocky peak in the Cascades; I lost it one year while negotiating endless waist-high sun cups in the Sierra. And here at Deer Creek, the vision of that wall in Vermont was about to sap the confidence needed to cross that stretch of ledge.

But without my realizing it, the canyon had been work-ing its magic on me over the last week. I was becoming a different person: A mother who said Sure you can instead of Way too risky; a hiker who said I’m game instead of Too hot for me, guys! Was I really going to let a long-ago event keep me from going forward?

It was now or never. And so this new person stuffed that old Vermont memory back into its rusty tin box and, with-out giving it any more thought, I shuffled across the ledge.

The wilderness can redefine you according to your own specifications. I experienced it on a small level that day, but this power to redefine increases with the need. Wounded veterans, for example, are turning to the wilderness to regain their war-torn confidence. As one participant in the Outward Bound veterans’ program said, “The whole course was a lot of ‘I think I can!’, and I did it!” (http://www.outwardbound.org/index.cfm/ do/cp.veterans)

Above the slot canyon, the Deer Creek trail opens out to a flat expanse aptly named “the Patio.” We put down our water bottles, and in the midday heat everyone else lay down and snoozed. But I couldn’t rest. I felt like I’d rewritten a bit of personal history that day, and wanted to simply bear witness, to take time for peaceful celebration before heading back to the river.

Elisabeth Hyde is a writer whose latest novel, In The Heart of the Canyon, was recently published by Knopf. She lives in Colorado with her family. Her Web site is www.elisabethhyde.com.

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these lands are your landsDID YOU KNOW that you own 623 million acres? You own the Grand Canyon, Yellow-stone, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, and hundreds more spectacular places, adding up to nearly 25 percent of the U.S. land base.

HeRe aRe SOme mORe faCtS abOUt all YOUR pROpeRtY:

the National Wilderness preservation System contains 756 wilderness areas, totaling 109 million acres.

the newest system of public lands is the Na-tional landscape Conservation System, made up primarily of western acreage overseen by the U.S. bureau of land management. It was established in 2000 to conserve large areas.

U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward bought alaska from Russia in 1867. We paid $7.2 million, or about two cents/acre. Some people thought it was a waste of money and referred to it as “Seward’s folly.”

to learn more about your vast real estate hold-ings, go to: www.wilderness.org.

Investing in the Environment Every DayMEMBER PROFILE

For 16-year Wilderness Society member Patrick Martin, the new office buzzword is “eco-investing.” With his wife Sandy taking the lead, Martin Investment Management, LLC in Evanston, Illinois, is identifying opportunities for investors who want to put their funds into firms that are part of the solution to the world’s environmental problems.

Eco-investing has two elements, they explain. “The first is companies that have advanced environmental practices,” Patrick Martin says. He cites Adobe, which uses recycled packaging materials and has a building with a high rating from LEEDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

“The second,” adds Sandy Martin, “includes companies such as the manufacturers of blades for wind turbines. We visit engineering departments at universities to help us find the most promising technologies.”

The oldest of five children, Patrick Martin grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and learned to love the outdoors at an early age. He went to summer camp in northern Wisconsin, spent many weekends in Door County (sometimes called “the Midwest’s Cape Cod”), and joined the Boy Scouts. He especially enjoyed hiking, sailing, and skiing.

He was the class valedictorian and ended up at Dartmouth College in 1968, where he was able to savor New Hampshire’s outdoor attractions, including the White Mountains. He stayed there another two years to earn an MBA from the Amos Tuck School.

Martin signed on as a financial analyst with Northern Trust in Chicago and then moved into the investment field. After working for two other companies, he set off on his own in 1989. “It was a big leap of faith,” he acknowledges. Eventually Sandy and his sister, Mary Ellen Martin Zellerbach, became partners at the firm, which has won a number of awards, including Equity Manager of the Year in 2008 at the Opal Financial Group’s Annual Emerging Managers Summit.

Their business success has enabled the Martins to help their favorite causes. “I like to support The Wilderness Society because they protect the public lands for future genera-tions,” says Patrick Martin. “Just because these places are in government hands doesn’t mean they are properly cared for.” The couple’s love of public lands has been reinforced by visits to Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Nicolet National Forest in Wisconsin.

There’s a personal connection, as well. “One of my friends was close to Gaylord Nelson, and his decision to devote his energies to The Wilderness Society after leaving the Senate was an important endorsement,” Martin explains. A former Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator best known as the founder of Earth Day, Nelson spent 24 years with The Wilderness Society until his death in 2005.

Rather than spread their contributions across many groups in a sector, the Martins prefer to focus on one. “That way, your dollars have more impact,” explains Patrick Martin. He and Sandy also are long-time supporters of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Dartmouth. Since both sons were scouts—and became Eagle Scouts—Patrick served as an assistant scoutmaster. He has been a member of the Chicago Council of Foreign Relations for 30 years.

Looking ahead, Martin is eager to see the United States make a commitment to clean energy. Every dollar he and his firm can steer toward the alternative energy industry will help make that possible.

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The TWS Wilderness Watch is a group of loyal members like you who provide a consistent stream of revenue, providing the resources needed to challenge the continuous attacks on our wilderness, and to move forward with identifying new areas for protection.

When you join the TWS Wilderness Watch program, your monthly contribution by credit or debit card provides The Wilderness Society with the most cost-effective, reliable support possible, enabling us to respond to urgent threats to America’s wild places. In addition, you will receive fewer mailings, which saves us money. Even more important, it saves trees.

By joining TWS Wilderness Watch, your membership will automatically renew annually, so joining saves you time.

You will continue receiving your membership benefits including the newsletter, magazine and updated membership card.

Call 1-800-THE WILD to join the TWS Wilderness Watch program today!

BE A GUARDIAN

because of the economic impacts,” he said, “but because the forests are not functioning well in terms of ecosys-tem services.” (“Ecosystem services” is a fancy name for things like clean air, clean water, habitat for fish and wildlife, scenic views and recreation — things that are highly valued, yet hard to price.) According to a Forest Service report, one out of five Americans obtains drinking water from sources arising out of national forests and grasslands. In recent years, the Forest Service has been studying how to put a dollar figure on such services. Climate change has added a new

dimension. Since trees lock up carbon dioxide, standing timber is even more valuable.

“In many respects, our forests are the lungs of our nation,” said Kathy O’Halloran, natural resources staff officer for Olympic National Forest. “They are providing clean air, clean water. Now that the Forest Service is focused on restoration, people in this agency are working very hard to help the ecosystem and make the forests more resilient.”

Christopher Dunagan is the environmental reporter for the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Washington, and has been cover-ing forest issues in the Northwest for 25 years.

GREEN JOBS (continued from page 43)


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Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-nM) received our ansel adams award this year, in part for his role in passage of legislation preserving wilderness in nine states, designating more than 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and protecting cherished places such as the Wyoming range. “as opponents threw a series of obstacles in the path of the most sweeping public lands protection bill in a genera-tion, senator Bingaman’s persistence and dedica-tion played a critical role in turning this bill into law,” said William h. Meadows, president of the Wilderness society. Bingaman chairs the senate energy and natural resources committee.

named for one of our founders, the robert Mar-shall award is the Wilder-ness society’s highest honor given to a private citizen. the 2009 honoree was Bethine Church, a long-time champion of protecting Ida-ho’s natural treasures and a member of the Wilderness

Teamwork. That’s how wilderness is saved. But teams need leaders, and The Wilderness Society believes in honoring those citizens who have gone above and beyond in their efforts to protect America’s wildlands and wildlife. Over the past year, we have presented the following awards.

Paying tribute to Environmental Heroes

society’s governing council since 1993. “Bethine has worked tirelessly to protect the sawtooth Mountains and other Idaho gems,” said Meadows. she is the widow of former u.s. senator Frank church, who shared her commitment to conservation.

our 2008 aldo leopold award for editorial Writ-ing was presented to Vern Anderson of the Salt Lake Tribune, while the award for 2009 went to Joe Guidry of the Tampa Tribune. “over the years,” said Meadows, “these two journalists have shown a keen understand-ing of often complex issues and have written countless editorials that have helped build the public support necessary to protect our natural heritage from oil drilling, mining, and other threats.”

the olaus and Margaret Murie award honors front-line state or federal land management employees, or any “young environmental-

ists,” especially those who are innovative and have taken risks to promote the principles of natural resource conservation. the 2009 recipients are biolo-gists Katherine and Aaron Prussian for their efforts to promote watershed restora-tion in alaska’s tongass national Forest.

the gloria Barron Wilder-ness society scholarship was awarded to ten graduate students at the university of Michigan’s school of natural resources for their work on a year-long master’s project titled ”renewable energy in the california Desert: Mech-anisms for evaluating solar energy on Public lands.” the group consists of Jesse Fernandes, Laura Palombi, Natalie Flynn, Matt Griffis, Takahiro Isshiki, Sean Killian, Nerissa Rujanavech, Sarah Tomsky, Samantha Gibbes, and Merry Tondro. “this scholarship aims to find the aldo leopolds and rachel carsons of the future,” observes tom Barron, an au-thor and long-time member

of our governing council who established the fellow-ship to honor his mother. she was a dedicated educa-tor and tireless advocate for wilderness protection.

six university of Wisconsin-stevens Point graduate students received gaylord nelson earth Day Fellow-ships in 2009. Ginamaria Javurek of eau claire; Frances Blanchard of rhine-lander; Jennifer Kobylecky of Baraboo; Alison Cordie of sartell, Minn.; Stefanie Miller of chino, calif.; and Scott Reilly of West Milford, n.J., were recognized for making significant contribu-tions to promoting conser-vation ethics and environ-mental education, and for exhibiting future leadership potential in the field of environmental education. We initiated these annual fellowships in 1990 to honor earth Day’s founder, former u.s. senator from Wisconsin gaylord nelson, long-time counselor of the Wilderness society, who died in 2005.

Senators Bingaman and Reid with William H. Meadows

Bethine Church

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2010 WILDERNESS CALENDAR

THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY

2010 TWS_cover.qxd:2006 14x12 Grid 6/8/09 12:10 PM Page 1

ENJOY 2010 WITH THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY CALENDAR

14” x 12” wall calendar with large daily planning boxes, only $13.95

To order, callWestcliffe Publishers at:

800-258-5830 or send an e-mail to: [email protected]

www.westcliffepublishers.com

By establishing an annuity with The Wilderness Society, you provide for your future, while having the satisfaction of knowing the remainder of your gift will be used to protect wildlife and wilderness areas.

For more information on establishing a gift annuity with the Wilderness Society, call our gift planning office at 888-703-4897, e-mail [email protected], or visit our website www.wilderness.org/giftplanning.

Secure an Income for Life

62 1-800-THE-WILD

GOVERNING COUNCILEdward A. Ames, Riverdale, NYJames R. Baca, Albuquerque, NM Thomas A. Barron, Boulder, CORichard Blum, San Francisco, CA David Bonderman, Fort Worth, TX* William M. Bumpers, Cabin John, MD Majora Carter, Bronx, NYBethine Church, Boise, IDBertram J. Cohn, New York, NYWilliam J. Cronon, Ph.D., Madison, WIBrenda S. Davis, Ph.D., Bozeman, MT, Chairman*Christopher J. Elliman, New York, NYJoseph H. Ellis, New York, NYDavid J. Field, Gladwyne, PAGeorge T. Frampton, New York, NYJerry F. Franklin, Ph.D., Issaquah, WADavid Getches, Boulder, COCaroline M. Getty, Corona Del Mar, CA*Reginald “Flip” Hagood, Washington, DCMarcia Kunstel, Jackson, WY, Secretary*Kevin Luzak, New York, NYMichael A. Mantell, Sacramento, CADave Matthews, Charlottesville, VAMolly McUsic, Chevy Chase, MDHeather Kendall Miller, Anchorage, AKScott A. Nathan, Boston, MA, Treasurer*Jaime Pinkham, St. Paul, MNRebecca L. Rom, Edina, MN*Theodore Roosevelt IV, Brooklyn, NY Patrick L. Smith, Arlee, MTCathy Douglas Stone, Boston, MADouglas Walker, Seattle, WA, Vice Chair*Hansjörg Wyss, West Chester, PA, Vice Chair*

HONORARY COUNCILFrances G. Beinecke, Bronx, NYRobert O. Blake, Washington, DCGilman Ordway, Wilson, WYEdmund A. Stanley, Jr., Oxford, MDCharles Wilkinson, Boulder, CO

SENIOR STAFFWilliam H. Meadows, PresidentDavid Hanson, Senior VP (Finance & Administration)Amy Vedder, Senior VP (Conservation)Paula Wolferseder Yabar, Senior VP (Development)Bennett H. Beach, Acting Vice President, Communications & MarketingSheila Dennis, Vice President, Membership & DevelopmentMichael Francis, Acting Vice President, Public Policy Jerry Greenberg, Vice President, Regional Conservation Leslie Jones, General CounselLisa L. Loehr, Vice President, OperationsAnn J. Morgan, Vice President, Public Lands CampaignKelly Parker, Vice President, Finance Spencer Phillips, Vice President, Ecology & Economics Research

* member of Executive Committee

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Save A Special Wild Place By Participating in your

WORKPLACE GIVING CAMPAIGNOne of the most cost-efficient and effective ways to save special wild places is by giving through a workplace giving program such as the United Way or the COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN. TWS is also a member of EARTH SHARE, a federation of environmental charities (www.earthshare.org).

The Wilderness Society would like to say “thank you” to all donors who have made donations through a workplace giving campaign.

To learn more, please visit www.wilderness.org/get involved/workplace.htm or call us at 1-800-THE-WILD.

The Wilderness Society’s new designation number is 10638.

HIGH HOPES FOR WILDERNESS (continued from page 23)

bill isn’t just about wilderness. In Bass’s words: “Wilder-ness is the seed within the fruit, but the seed is surround-ed by the flesh and ethos of restoration.”

As we search for a resilient ethic of sustainability that bal-ances traditional American vitality with the stark demands of the 21st Century, our solutions must balance wilderness and restoration, preservation and reconciliation, collabo-ration and core values, environmental and social justice. Looking back on his lifetime of writing about wilderness activism, Michael Frome sums up this challenge. Like so many truths, it’s simply put and difficult to achieve: “Be-lieve in the system, and see only potential allies.”

Stephen Trimble, author/photographer of more than 20 books, divides his time between Salt Lake City and the re-drock wilderness surrounding Torrey, Utah. His most recent book is Bargaining for Eden: The Fight for the Last Open Spaces in America. His website is www.stephentrimble.net.


Vermont’s Breadloaf Wilderness is the largest of eight wilderness areas in Green Mountain National Forest.

© mary LIz aUStIn

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By naming The Wilderness Society in your will, trust or other estate plan, you will help us ensure that their world includes unspoiled wild lands.

For more information on how to include The Wilderness Society in your estate plans please call :

Toll-free at 888-736-4897E-mail: [email protected]: www.wilderness.org/giftplanning

Inspire Future Generations with a Legacy of Wilderness…with a Legacy of Wilderness…

wilderness magazine 2009-2010

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