The Wilderness Society

Wilderness Blog

Latest Posts from the Roadless Forests campaign

Roadless rule becomes law of the land

March 13, 2012 By Mike Anderson, J.D.

Just a two-hour drive from Seattle, Teanaway Roadless Area is popular with horseback riders, hikers, hunters and mountain bikers

Credit: Holly Werran

March came in like a lion to defend our national forests. After years of courtroom wrangling and legal uncertainty, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has finally become the law of the land. Read more

Movie with a Message: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

March 2, 2012 By Neil Shader

The Lorax

Credit: Loren Javier (flickr Creative Commons)

With lead stars Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, you might think that the Lorax is just for kids. But The Wilderness Society supporter Betty White also lends her voice to Grammy Norma, continuing her commitment to conservation for future generations. “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” Read more

Victory for roadless forests! Court moves to protect national forest roadless areas

October 21, 2011 By Christopher Lancette

Hikers in the North Cascades Roadless Area of Washington

Credit: Damon Parrish, REI

More than ten years after President Clinton banned roads and logging on the last roadless areas on our nation’s forests, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has the final say — 49 million acres of America’s national forests will remain wild under the Roadless Rule. Read more

Sealaska Bill: A Step Backward for Southeast Alaska

July 14, 2011 By Tim Woody

Tongass old growth forest

Credit: Sitka Conservation Society

We were sitting at the kitchen table of a B&B on Prince of Wales Island a few years ago when the owner – a former logger – looked me straight in the eye and asked about an idea that could improve his future: “Do you think other people want to do this?” Read more

Public lands in America: what have we un-learned in the past 100 years?

May 2, 2011 By Ben Rose

A Wilderness Society Web feature story decries the outrageous attacks on public wild lands which were jammed through in the recent federal budget bill. I am struck by the stark contrast between the strident anti-nature sentiment present in the U.S. House today and what was happening in Congress a mere century ago. Region: Northeast Read more

Do Roads Belong Here? New threats to Idaho’s backcountry forests

February 1, 2011 By Christopher Lancette

We prefer to inform you about advances in wild land conservation, but this week that opportunity has been denied for Idaho’s magnificent backcountry forests. At the end of January, a federal district court upheld a dangerous federal rule that eliminates protection for 400,000 acres of Idaho’s wild backcountry and exposes more than 5 million acres in the state to greater threat of development. Region: Northern Rockies Read more

Memories of a Maryland forest

January 19, 2011 By Sarah Peters

Fallen tree gives snow a place to sit

The forest patch in my Maryland backyard has always been a part of my life and is filled with fond memories. This patch is one of the last remaining outposts of nature amongst the rapid development in Frederick’s outskirts, cut off from its brethren. Yet this small patch has been thriving for decades. Read more

Protected roadless forests celebrate anniversary, but threats loom

January 11, 2011 By Mike Anderson, J.D.

Rogue-Winema National Forest Brown Mountain Roadless Area. Courtesy USFS.

A decade after it was first adopted by the U.S. Forest Service, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has proven to be remarkably successful in protecting the 58.5 million acres of national forest roadless areas from road building and logging. Only about 75 miles of road building has occurred in the roadless areas — far less than the Forest Service had predicted a decade ago — and just a miniscule fraction of the unroaded forests has been logged, mostly in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. Read more