In a show of bipartisanship that is encouraging to see, Congress has started to work on a slate of wilderness protection bills from coast to coast. So far, bills have been introduced that would protect more than 1.5 million acres of new wilderness in six states.

The U.S. Forest Service reports that the United States is currently losing 6,000 acres of open space each day. That’s four acres a minute.

The time is now to protect wilderness. Please help us ensure that these special places remain untrammeled for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

Creating new wilderness requires a grassroots campaign to galvanize the public’s interest in these lands. The fact is, most people will never visit these wilderness areas. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care about them!

Citizens throughout Oregon and other states, for example, have come together to support the FSEEE-led campaign to preserve the magnificent Devil’s Staircase, an area that is so remote and difficult to reach that only a handful of hardy hikers have ever reached the famed Devil’s Staircase waterfall.

At FSEEE, we understand that the keys to a successful wilderness campaign include public support, and as an FSEEE member, you know that your voice can make a difference.
Wilderness campaigns are built on a bedrock of citizens who are passionate about public lands and are willing to make the phone calls, write the letters or visit these remarkable remote forests. FSEEE members have always been willing to take the time to contact their legislators, and doing so has made a lasting difference many times in the past.

It’s time to make your voice heard once again. Here’s a rundown of wilderness bills currently before Congress:

•  The Devil’s Staircase Wilderness Act would protect the largest remaining old-growth forest (30,000 acres) in Oregon’s Coast Range. Home to black bears, mountain lions, river otter, mink, northern spotted owls and salmon, this bill had a mid-May hearing in the Senate.

•  Alpine Lakes Additions would add over 22,000 acres to Washington’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness east of Seattle. This bill is supported in the House by Republican David Reichert and in the Senate by Democrat Patty Murray. Like Devil’s Staircase, it is slated for fast-track consideration in the Senate.

•  The California Desert Protection Act would protect a quarter-million acres of wilderness in southern California, create two national monuments and expand existing national parks. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is leading the campaign to pass this bill.

•  Also in southern California, Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) has introduced HR 41, which would add more than 21,000 acres of wilderness to the existing Beauty Mountain and Agua Tibia wilderness areas. Republican David Dreier is also seeking to protect 18,000 wilderness acres through the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests Protection Act.

•  The Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act was introduced by Mike Simpson (R-ID) and would protect a 333,000-acre wilderness.

•  The Rio Grande Del Norte National Conservation Area Act, sponsored by retiring Senator Jeff Bingaman, would protect 235,000 acres near Taos, New Mexico, including 21,000 acres of wilderness. A companion bill is being sponsored in the House by New Mexico Democrats Ben Ray Lujan and Martin Heinrich.

•  Michigan senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have introduced the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act, which at 32,500 acres would be Michigan’s second-largest wilderness.

These are just some of the bills that have been introduced and could become law in this Congress. But the success of these and other wilderness campaigns depends on your support.

FSEEE needs your help to ensure that we can continue our wilderness advocacy.

Please look here find a list of of wilderness bills and contact information, then call or write your representatives and tell them: “I support saving the last of our wild places.”  

And please consider making a special gift to support FSEEE’s wilderness campaign. With your help, we’ll expand our grassroots movement and engage thousands of citizens in wilderness preservation. As Forest Service employees and long-time forest advocates, we know these wild lands intimately, and we’ll guide others on hikes, map the areas and take photographs in order to build a convincing case on Capitol Hill for wilderness. Photographs really are worth a thousand words.

We know the threats these lands often face, from off-road vehicles to unscrupulous resource extraction. Although the Forest Service has sometimes treated wilderness as a second-class priority, the agency is actually the father of wilderness stewardship.

In 1922, the Carson National Forest supervisor—none other than Aldo Leopold—decided that the headwaters of the Gila River should be protected from roads and development. The Gila became the nation’s first landscape protected to preserve its intrinsic wildness. Forty years later, in 1964, Congress passed the Wilderness Act with the Gila among the first designated wilderness areas.

Leopold’s footsteps have defined the path FSEEE follows in our forest advocacy. His mission to “save all the pieces” is ours. In this Congress, we have a chance to save hundreds of thousands of acres of our wilderness heritage. Thank you for helping us do so.