Wilderness is one of the things that America got right and that has been emulated around the world. Yet just as it took a citizen movement to create our country’s 111 million-acre wilderness system, it takes engaged citizens, ever vigilant, to ensure it remains a wild and protected home for wildlife and a place for present and future generations to reconnect with our wild selves. Protecting Wilderness is always a challenge, but in 2021, we've collectively turned back numerous destructive and intrusive threats to some of our premier wilderness lands. Together, we: - stopped a massive project to poison 67 miles of streams and three lakes in the Scapegoat Wilderness, part of an ill-conceived proposal aimed at replacing one type of fish with another in what were historically fishless waters.
- kept native wildlife from being driven from their homes by keeping long-vacant grazing allotments in the Absaroka-Beartooth and other Wildernesses closed to domestic cows and sheep.
- ensured that natural processes continue to shape the Palisades Wilderness Study Area by shutting down a plan to burn thousands of acres of native vegetation.
- prevented road survey work in the wildlife-rich and internationally significant Izembek Wilderness.
- preserved natural quiet in America’s first Wilderness—the Gila—and seven other Wildernesses by defeating a plan to expand F-16 fighter jet overflights.
Your gift to Wilderness Watch during GivingTuesday supports our work to protect Wilderness—the idea, the spirit, the place, and its wild inhabitants. All first-time donations will be matched up to $10,000 by wilderness advocate Bob J. Weggel. Please help us raise $30,000 on GivingTuesday. We couldn’t do this important work without you! Thank you! For the wild, George, Dana, Kevin, Dawn, and Brett | |