Today marks the 100th anniversary of our first Wilderness—the Gila Wilderness in southwest New Mexico. The U.S. Forest Service established the Gila Wilderness on June 3, 1924, at the urging of Aldo Leopold, who was concerned at the time that the Gila would become riddled with roads and other development. Congress solidified the Forest Service’s administrative designation of the Gila with the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, which designated the Gila and 53 other Wilderness areas. The Gila’s high mesas, ponderosa pine forests, deep canyons, and rolling hills of grassland and piñon-juniper woodlands create uninterrupted habitat for rare and endangered species, like the Gila Trout, the Southwest Willow Flycatcher, the northern Mexican garter snake, Mexican gray wolves, and the world’s largest population of Mexican spotted owls. There are many ongoing threats to the Gila, but on this anniversary we have the opportunity to remove a significant one. Five private inholdings still persist within this vast wild area, and their development could do great harm to the wilderness values of the Gila. Fortunately, our friends at The Wilderness Land Trust (WLT) have a rare opportunity to acquire one of these remaining private inholdings and add it to the public domain of the Gila Wilderness. The parcel is likely to be developed for commercial use if not purchased for conservation. To protect this inholding, WLT needs to raise $152,000 before June 30. If you are interested in helping WLT secure the property or would like to learn more about this project, please visit: https://wildernesslandtrust.org/protect-the-gila/ Thank you for your support for the Gila Wilderness! |
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