MEMBER NEWSLETTER SUMMER 2010 VOL. XII, NO. 3
America’s Wilderness
The Wilderness Society’s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.
www.wilderness.org
Spring Brings Rays of Hope for America’s Arctic © Howie Garber/wanderlustimages.com
It was 23 years ago that the Reagan administration first urged Congress to let the oil industry drill in the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Few Americans had heard of this sanctuary, and political experts predicted the industry would roll over conservationists. Twenty-three years later, however, caribou continue migrating hundreds of miles to the refuge each spring to bear the next generation. Millions of birds arrive from all over the continent—and beyond—to breed
Polar bears and gulls feed on a whale carcass along the Alaskan coast.
and nest. Polar bears, grizzlies, muskoxen, and other species go about their business. The Gwich’in People maintain their culture, established millennia ago. Recently, the outlook became even brighter. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is revising its long-term management plan and will consider the possibility of recommending the refuge’s coastal plain and other areas for inclusion in the Wilderness Preservation continued on page 2
Helping Forests Help Us—and Wildlife “Most of the people in Salt Lake drink water that runs down here from the Wasatch-Cache National Forest,” says Laura Briefer of Salt Lake City Public Utilities. “There’s a direct relation between management of the forest and the quality of the water that we receive. The cleaner the water, the less it costs us to make it drinkable.”
“This is a golden opportunity for people to play a direct role in shaping the future of our national forests,” says The Wilderness Society’s Seattle-based Mike Anderson, who has been on the front lines of forest management battles for a quarter century. He notes that more than 200 million people a year visit the national forests and grasslands. “This is a chance for them to tell the Forest Service they want the strongest possible protection for water, trees, and other natural resources needed by people and wildlife alike.”
Clean water is just one of the “products” of a wellmanaged national forest. The quality of those products depends on which activities the U.S. Forest Service allows in its 155 forests. Such decisions are governed by Many Americans took advantage of this opportunity, various federal laws, notably the National Forest Manspeaking at recent hearings. Wilderness Society staff agement Act, which is being revised this year. members also attended. “We welcome the emphasis on continued on page 3