What an honor to be chosen by The Wilderness Society to attend the signing of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act at the White House. I started volunteering on the effort to designate wilderness in California’s Eastern Sierra in 1986 when the Forest Service issued a draft land management plan for its lands there. That plan called for developing a ski area in the headwaters of the Owens River, the river system made famous in the movie “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson. Read more

Aspen in Bridger-Teton National Forest, a part of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, Wyoming. Courtesy NFS.

What a slug in the stomach March 11 turned out to be for wild lands. At The Wilderness Society today, folks were waiting with bated breath and figurative confetti in hand as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on a long-awaited, historic piece of legislation that would have created the largest expansion of wilderness protection in 15 years. Read more

Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains, California. Photo by John Dittli.

In wilderness, nature rules. Wilderness is nature in the raw — a place undeveloped, untrammeled and unspeakably beautiful. It's a place open and accessible to anyone — sportsmen, anglers, hikers, backpackers, equestrians, climbers and others — who are willing to venture out and survive, if even for a short while, at the mercy of their wits and the elements. Read more