Virginia Wilderness News

A bill now in Congress would place 19,556 acres of Tennessee located in Cherokee National Forest in a permanent wilderness area.

Teddy Roosevelt, in a frequently cited address, once noted that, "We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."

Roosevelt's words reach across time to remind people to tell leaders in Congress that the allure of short-term economic gain is no reason to strip protections from tens of millions of acres of still pristine areas. Unfortunately, a pending congressional proposal could undermine decades of progress in preserving this wondrous heritage.

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It took 198 mule loads to pack in the equipment and building supplies needed to replace the North Fork Sun River Bridge in Lewis and Clark National Forest. COURTESY PHOTO/U.S.

DENVER - A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a rule prohibiting roads on nearly 50 million acres of land in national forests across the United States, a ruling hailed by environmentalists as one of the most significant in decades.

Mining and energy companies, however, say it could limit development of natural resources such as coal, oil and natural gas.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule after lawyers for the state of Wyoming and the Colorado Mining Association contended it was a violation of the law.

Giving Back to the Land
by Mike Matz (Campaign for America's Wilderness)

Teddy Roosevelt, in a frequently cited address, once noted that, "We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune."

By Michael Lipsky
OP-ED Contributor, The New York Times

Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senator John Barrasso have proposed risky legislation that opens tens of millions of acres of public lands to corporate polluters. H.R. 1581, the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act, is really a "Great Outdoors Giveaway." It gives polluters and developers, who already have access to 76 percent of all national forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands, access to even more of America's vanishing wilderness. This bill is a blank check for polluters to ruin the air we breathe and water we drink.

Don't let wilderness foes win!

The Department of Interior took a major step backward on wilderness protection June 1.  Bowing to political opposition from right-wing members of Congress, the Administration seems to be moving away from its landmark Wild Lands Policy, put in place just five months ago to help the Bureau of Land Management protect wilderness-quality lands until Congress can act to permanently protect them.

The announcement from the Department of Interior strongly hints that this Administration may no longer make wilderness protection a priority.

Congress has been designating wilderness areas, year in and year out, since 1964, passing more than 130 laws to do so. The fundamental lesson from this history for conservationists is that wilderness areas are protected not from the "top down," but from the "grassroots up." The key is effective grassroots organizing, building ever deeper and broader local support that can, ultimately, win the interest of the local members of Congress. 

The National Park Service currently manages 44 million acres of land as wilderness. This video showcases the natural beauty of those special places and uses language from the Wilderness Act to help tell the story.

Link to video.