Read about the issues that The Wilderness Society's regional offices are working on, including offshore drilling in Alaska, protecting New Jersey's Highlands, and helping develop a conservation plan for Montana's Blackfoot River.

Click on a region to read more:
Alaska
California/Nevada
Idaho
Mid-Atlantic
Northeast
Northern Rockies
Southeast
Southwest

ALASKA
Polar bears, bowhead whales, and native communities would be put at greater risk if the Bush administration's five-year offshore drilling plan is not derailed. The proposal would allow oil and gas leasing across 83 million acres of Alaskan waters, where ice and intense storms increase the chances of catastrophic spills. The list of drilling sites includes the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea, which is just off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and is home to 10 percent of the world's polar bears. Earth's largest sockeye salmon run would be in jeopardy if the plan to allow drilling in Bristol Bay goes ahead. Coastal fish and wildlife are staples in the diets of those living in native communities in all four Alaskan regions proposed for leasing. Moreover, the use of these fossil fuels would worsen global warming, which already has created major changes in Alaska. We are urging Congress and the Bush administration to scale back this ill-conceived plan.

Eleanor Huffines
907-272-9453
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CALIFORNIA/NEVADA
Hazel Green Ranch LLC owns 83 acres along the western border of Yosemite and wants to build a large resort. The resort plans also call for bulldozing two roads linking the property to Highway 120 inside the park, and we are seeking to go to federal court alongside the National Park Service in opposition to this development scheme. In pressing for the road construction, the ranch is relying on an 1866 statute, RS 2477, a loophole from an outdated law that allowed for road construction but has been replaced with more modern, environmentally-friendly laws and policies that protect national parks from haphazard road building . In our view, the company cannot bring the road claim due to a 12-year statute of limitations. Developers, wilderness opponents, and off-road vehicle interests are trying to create such roads through many natural landscapes in the West.

Sara Barth
415-561-6641
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IDAHO
The bighorn sheep population in and adjacent to the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area has declined dramatically over the past 25 years. The major cause is pneumonia, which is transmitted by domestic sheep herds that the U.S. Forest Service allows to graze on Payette National Forest, located along Hells Canyon's southeastern border. To stop further disease spread, The Wilderness Society and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council took the agency to court, seeking an end to grazing on two parcels where the Forest Service's own studies found a "very high" and "high" potential of fatal disease transmission. In May the agency agreed not to allow domestic sheep to graze on those parcels this year. We intend to keep pressing until the closure becomes permanent. Our allies in this effort include the Nez Perce tribe, which has considered the bighorn an essential resource for generations.

Craig Gehrke
208-343-8153
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MID-ATLANTIC
We are leaders in the 100-group Highlands Coalition, dedicated to protecting 3.5 million acres of forest, farmland, and scenic ridges stretching from west of Harrisburg through New Jersey and New York to northwestern Connecticut. We helped secure the first $2 million authorized by the 2004 Highlands Conservation Act, which is going toward preservation of Arrow Park in New York, the Wyanokie Highlands in New Jersey, and Oley Hills in Pennsylvania. In addition, money that we helped obtain from the Forest Legacy program will conclude the preservation of the Birdsboro Waters area near Reading, Pennsylvania. Now we are trying to persuade Congress to appropriate the funds needed to protect the Sparta Mountain Greenway (Sussex County, NJ) and Skiff Mountain (near Kent, CT). Healthy watersheds in the Highlands ensure clean drinking water for more than 15 million people while providing first-rate recreational opportunities and habitat vital to fish and wildlife.

Tom Gilbert
215-343-1110
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NORTHEAST
Moosehead Lake symbolizes the beauty and remoteness of Maine's North Woods. But Seattle-based Plum Creek Real Estate, the nation's largest private landowner, has petitioned Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) to rezone 408,000 acres so that Plum Creek can remake Moosehead. LURC cannot approve the plan unless it determines that the plan would have "no undue adverse impact on existing uses or resources" and strikes "a reasonable and publicly beneficial balance" between development and conservation. The original 2005 proposal caused a public outcry. A third version, unveiled in April, is the most sweeping yet. It provides for 2,315 residential units, two resorts, five commercial development zones, 36 miles of subdivision roads, two golf courses, and more. Lily Bay, Indian Pond, and Lily Bay Mountain are among the places that would be transformed. To voice your opinion, e-mail lurc@maine.gov or send written comments to Aga Pinette, project manager, LURC, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0022.

Jeremy Sheaffer
207-626-5553
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NORTHERN ROCKIES
The Blackfoot River in northwestern Montana is the setting for the famous fly-fishing novel A River Runs Through It. After two years of dialogue with a diverse group--including timber interests, outfitters, landowners, recreation groups, and conservation partners--The Wilderness Society has helped develop a comprehensive conservation plan for the Blackfoot watershed. It features 87,000 acres of new wilderness areas in the Lolo National Forest, sustainable logging, watershed improvements, removal of old roads, tree thinning designed to reduce the potential of catastrophic wildfires, and restoration of habitat vital to threatened and endangered species such as grizzlies and bull trout. There also would be a cogeneration biomass plant. Our proposal illustrates how we can protect wilderness and wildlife habitat while maintaining traditional activities and promoting a healthy economy.
 
Bob Ekey
406-586-1600
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SOUTHEAST
The Rocky Fork Watershed is the scenic backdrop that greets motorists along I-26 as they cross into Tennessee from North Carolina. Known for its clear tumbling streams and diverse forest land, the watershed features Appalachian brook trout, wild rainbows, grouse, wild turkey, peregrine falcons, and other species. Developers have been trying to purchase a 10,000-acre private tract that is at the heart of this watershed in order to build a sprawling gated community. One mile of the Appalachian Trail passes through the parcel. To protect this special place, we have teamed up with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, the Conservation Fund, and others to secure the funds needed to acquire it. Please urge your representatives in Congress to support appropriations from the Land and Water Conservation Fund that could help purchase this land.

Frank Peterman
404-272-9453
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SOUTHWEST
To increase the scope of our work in New Mexico and Arizona, our Four Corners region has been divided into two: the Southwest and the Central Rockies (Colorado and Utah). [This fall, Wilderness magazine will tell members about our new team in the Southwest.] One top priority there is protection of wildlands in northeastern New Mexico's Sabinoso region, featuring a series of long, deep canyons, including the 1,000-foot-deep Cañon Largo, topped by colorful cliffs. There are forests of pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine, while cottonwoods and willows run along valley streams. Thanks to this biodiversity, Sabinoso is used by red-tailed hawks, mountain chickadees, coyotes, mule deer, bobcats, and many other species. We are working alongside the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, local sportsmen, and others to build support for adding 15,000 acres of the Sabinoso to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Congressman Tom Udall (D-NM) is expected to introduce legislation to preserve this unique area this year.

Deanna Archuleta
505-917-4226
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