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.
Our national forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands are a resource for all of us. Millions of Americans annually take advantage of these special places. Last year, the Blue Ridge Parkway hosted more than 14.5million recreational users - the highest total for any unit in the National Park System.
Each September we recognize the important role the outdoors plays in our lives. National Public Lands Day encourages people around the United States to volunteer to clean up parks, plant trees or maintain trails. It also reminds us to take care of the natural legacy we've been given.
Likewise, National Hunting and Fishing Day honors the conservation leadership that hunters and anglers historically have provided in restoring wildlife populations to previous abundance and protecting the habitat on which many species - from birds to bears - depend.
Still, we are losing an astonishing amount of open spaces - 6,000acres a day at a rate of 4acres per minute. You see this loss in meadows converted to malls, forests cleared for subdivisions and wild places being opened to coal extraction, hardrock mining, and new oil and gas drilling. These activities can be an important source of jobs, but we need to strike a balance between development and protection because America's wild lands are a finite resource.
We must bequeath to our heirs some semblance of the diminishing natural world. And fortunately, that's been happening over the last half century. Since the enactment of the Wilderness Act in 1964, a legal tool that allows Americans to safeguard some of our public lands in perpetuity, we have had the foresight to conserve more than 100million acres.
Saving places as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System keeps pristine areas in an untrammeled condition and free for us to enjoy. Moreover, because of citizens' calls for action, more designations are under consideration.
Some in Congress, however, are pushing legislation that would open more than 60million acres - equal to the size of Wyoming - of now-protected areas to extractive industries. Known as the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act of 2011, this bill would strip current safeguards for thousands of acres of Virginia forests before they can be properly assessed or otherwise conserved. The impact would be enormous. The George Washington and Jefferson National Forest is home to more unprotected roadless wildlands than any national forest in the eastern U.S. and more endangered species than any national forest in the country.
If industrial development and off-road vehicle use are allowed, these places will become permanently ineligible for wilderness consideration. Moreover, the release bill would abandon the balanced, bipartisan approach utilized by our nation's leaders over the past several decades to ensure that America's last undeveloped lands are protected for generations to come. For example, President Ronald Reagan signed more wilderness bills into law than any other president in U.S.history, working with a Democratic Congress to enact 21proposals in 1984 alone.
We are fortunate to have unspoiled places we all can enjoy. And as President Roosevelt so wisely warned over a century ago, if Americans are to continue to enjoy this nation's rich "natural heritage" we must actively protect it. Congress should follow suit by rejecting the misguided proposal to "release" our cherished wild places from future conservation.
Matz directs the Pew Environment Group's Campaign for America's Wilderness