Dear Friends of Wilderness Watch, These truly uncertain and unfamiliar times make Wilderness—with its timeless, peaceful rhythms—so important as a physical and mental refuge from the chaos around us. As Wallace Stegner wrote in Wilderness Letter, Wilderness is important even if we never step foot in it “for it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” You turn that hope into action. Your responses to our action alerts help make all the difference for Wilderness. Now we need you to make a special end-of-the-year donation so that we can keep the pressure on in 2021! With your help in 2020, we have: - Filed lawsuits to stop the construction of an 11-mile road that would slice through the heart of the fabled Izembek Wilderness and to stop oil and gas drilling in our wildest place—the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- Advanced our campaign to end livestock grazing in 13 million acres of Wilderness, and have vigorously opposed proposals to open ungrazed areas to livestock.
- Secured another legal win to protect wolves in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wildenress, filed a lawsuit to stop the Trump administration from reinstating cruel hunting practices on 19 million acres in National Preserves in Alaska, and are fighting a proposal to allow bear baiting to kill the Kenai Wilderness’ famed brown bears.
- Fought mines on the upstream edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and bordering the world-class wetlands of the Okefenokee Wilderness.
- Challenged the use of helicopters, chainsaws, prescribed burns, bulldozers, and more in multiple Wildernesses.
And we hope you’ve enjoyed our “Wilderness Experienced” stories, a new feature highlighting the many benefits of Wilderness and some of the challenges facing it. Looking ahead, we will: - Push the new administration to restore federal wilderness programs that have been gutted and eroded over the decades, including a robust wilderness ranger field presence and knowledgeable staff.
- Urge the new administration and Congress to change the way livestock grazing is administered in Wilderness so as to remedy the harmful effects of domestic livestock grazing in the 13 million acres of Wilderness where it now occurs.
- Confront many legislative challenges, including perennial efforts to allow mountain bikes, expand commercial activities, and increase developments for game farming to facilitate hunting, angling, and recreational shooting in Wilderness.
- Stop proposals to poison streams and lakes, plant genetically modified trees, apply herbicides, capture and collar wildlife, kill predators, increase livestock grazing, and more.
Wildness is the essential quality of Wilderness and must never be compromised. With your support, we’ll be ready to succeed with the challenges and opportunities ahead. Contributions from our members provide nearly 90 percent of our funding each year, so please be as generous as you can. For the Wild,
George P.S. You can also participate in our growing monthly donor program. Simply check “Make this donation recurring” on our online donation form. |
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