Giving Thanks for Special Places. Join the discussion!

Recycle and recyle,plant trees,use your voice,practice what you preach,brick in the toilet tank,water filters not buying plastic bottled water(stupid)
doing whatever it takes to get back to basics,buying local,growing my own,unplug unused electrical gagets,read more info keep learning better ways to help the world ,our planet.We are so spoiled and need to slow down and smell the nasty air we have created and wake up !!

I try my best to fight climate change by how I live, the way I vote, and by educating others.

The simple yet environmentally conscious things I do on a daily/ weekly basis are: recycling whatever I can, using public transit or walking as much as possible, using cloth bags instead of plastic or paper bags at the grocery store, buying items with the least amount of packaging possible, printing on both sides of paper, emailing my representatives about important policy decisions, conserving water when I brush my teeth, and I also buy carbon offsets when I can.

I also recommend visiting the website "therainforestsite.com" and clicking on the green button every day (it's free and sponsors donate 11.4 sq. feet of rain forest for every click). Another good site is "goodsearch.com" because it donates 1 cent to a charity of your choice for every search you make. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's really simple, free, and it adds up. You can also make purchases through these sites, so these are good ideas for gifts.

I've found that one of the simplest changes is using the cloth bags because they usually only cost a dollar at the larger supermarkets, and they last a really long time!! It's really important to stop so much plastic from getting into the rivers and oceans. I learned in a Marine Biology class that one plastic bag in the ocean can kill up to 40 sea turtles (amongst other sea life) before the pieces of plastic are small enough not to get caught in their digestive tracts. For other ocean lovers out there, remember to avoid buying shrimp which are trolled in coral areas or farmed in areas that used to be mangroves, as both cause habitat destruction and lower species diversity.

Good luck to everyone else out there, can't wait to read your ideas!
LSL

I've begun to only use reusable bags when shopping for everything, even when I pickup take-out, and also encouraging as many people as I can to do the same. Any other paper or plastic bags I acquire I use for extra trash bags in bathrooms, and the paper bags make great book covers or wrapping paper for gifts that can be self-decorated! Recently I've also begun to use and reuse little plastic ziploc bags and gently used pieces of foil. I will wash them and reuse them until they have holes. It saves me money and also helps combat the build up of excess waste and energy consumption. Also using rags and washing them vs. paper towels saves a lot of trees!
It has also come to my attention the amount of toxic chemicals found in many of the cleaners offered to the mainstream consumer for cleaning our homes and offices. I've been looking into recipes for making homemade cleaners for counters, sinks, tub, and the toilet; they mostly consist of using simple and very affordable non-toxic ingredients including white vinegar, baking soda, water, tea tree oil and lemon juice. Recipes can be found here: http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm
OR here: http://www.womenandenvironment.org/campaignsandprograms/SafeCleaning/recipes

I drive much less, and take public transport (train) more often.

My ancestors came to Utah 150 years ago pulling handcarts. I have a photo of me at Alta when I was one year old. As soon as they could walk I put both my sons on skis. I skied for Alta Ski Team (1965-66); won the Championships at Whitman College as a freshman; Skied for Utah (1968-70) then for the Universite de Grenoble on the World University Circuit for a year (1970-71). I coached x-c skiing for 30 years.
I have skied 39 new routes in the Brooks, Chugach and Kenai Mountain Ranges and across the West.
I have climbed 30 peaks in the Tetons starting in 1964. My sons took their first climbing lessons in the Tetons in 2005.
I came to Alaska 42 years ago as a teenager. My first career was smokejumping; over 11 years I parachuted into 17 national forests across seven states. Then I taught gifted students for 30 years. Now I summit alpine peaks, ski new routes in the mountains, first descents of rivers and traverse mountain ranges.

I have skied/traversed 1200 miles from Seward on the Pacific over the Kenai, Chugach and Alaska Ranges to Iditarod, Yukon River and now at Unalakleet on the Bering Sea.
600 Miles I did with my friend Dick Griffith. When we got to Iditarod in 2004 there was no trail; so we volunteered for a week at the Iditarod site. The last time I was in that area was 1967 on a fire.
Thanks for your Great Work!!!

I have recently been asked to do a report on water conservation. This report led me into all kinds of research. In the end It became a blog so that the information could be shared on a larger scale. What was fascinating was the fact that todays Water Crisis was directly tied into Global Warming and our Health Care Crisis. This report is a hard nosed look at choices and changes we as Americans are going to have to make in order to turn things around. All these issues are correctable but will we have the will or the desire to do so from a realistic view point. It is a great read I invite you to visit: http://h2oshortage.blogspot.com/ to see what it is truly going to take to turn things around.
Thanks

I like to ask before I decide to support your ogranization if you are pro-deer hunting or any other kind of hunting for so called "conservation". True Conservation do not resort to killing animals and so far I have exposed and will continue to expose Audubon, NWF, WWF, and Nature Conservancy for they all support pain and suffering. I be waiting for your honest answer.

thank you

Thanks for the lovely reflection on Yellowstone, which so evidently comes from a heart overflowing with gratitude for natural beauty. I don't remember seeing any snowmobiles in Yellowstone when our family visited it 15 years ago. (The air was clean; it was perfectly quiet; and our view of Old Faithful was unimpeded!) However, I do recall our surprise and delight on encountering red-furred baby bison, along with their mothers, in the still-snowy park that spring. The animals had intelligently "set up shop" in areas where steam vents had melted the snow and exposed the tender grasses for munching purposes. It was fascinating, and a bit scary, to watch these great beasts and their young and to imagine just how many more of them once roamed the area.

My favorite wild place to come home to -- where I truly have left a piece of myself -- is Yosemite. To some folks, it is a vacation cliché. To others, as they look at the smog, the backpackers' trash, and the long lines of summer traffic, it is a cautionary tale about how not to manage a national park. To me, though, it is a place that never ceases to thrill and amaze. Having visited it several times a year, in all seasons, during the 20 years we lived in California, I know its anatomy fairly well. And I still find it incredible when I meet Easterners who have never been there.

There is nothing like standing at the base of El Capitan, in the silence and darkness of night, with the glint of some climber's lantern visible high up the sheer cliff face, for gaining a sense of perspective. (Enormous, timeless monolith versus tiny, mortal me!) Or standing close enough to Nevada or Vernal Falls to hear the water's roar and feel the mist when the snow melt has created a colossal spring runoff. Or, as my daughter and I did when we returned to the park two summers ago, gazing down into Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point -- a heart-stopping, panoramic view beyond words. Or gazing across Tuolumne Meadows in late summer at a riotously colorful expanse of alpine wildflowers. Or cross-country skiing the road to Badger Pass in winter.

I continue to be thankful for all such places in our country, as in the wider world, for they offer us the gift of renewal. There, apart from the metropolitan rush, we can slow down; take some deep breaths; contemplate what is beautiful; value what is unspoiled; restore our bodies; and consider that the compulsive, driven way we often approach our daily lives may not be the best way after all.

-- Ann Ramsey-Moor
Ellicott City, MD

I am grateful for all the work that you do - to protect the jewels of our planet.
Thank you.
To date, some of the most beautiful places I have enjoyed: The Adirondacks in NY (specifically 4th, 7th and 8th Lakes, Raquette Lake and Buttermilk Falls) - and anywhere in the Swiss Alps. (Can we mention something outside the U.S.?) :)
May you find renewed strength for the work ahead.
Debora, Walworth, NY

Okay, I'm not going to wax poetic. I'm just going to list a couple.
**I have to say that I am in love with Starved Rock state park and Matthiesen state park in Illinois.
My first visit was a birthday gift from friends, and the canyons and waterfalls are amazing. These parks first opened up in about the 1920's, and in spots you can still find remnants of the old eye posts and guide wires that were used by hikers. The view from the top of one waterfall at Matthiesen took me to another world. One drawback -- a lot of tourists. Tourists that treat the place like their own personal landfill. @#$%! When are those people going to learn to use a trash bag?
**Next up -- the World Bird Sanctuary in St Louis. That was another birthday trip. Not exactly a wild place, but incredible nonetheless. They take care of sick and injured birds of prey, and are engaged in breeding programs designed to re-introduce these birds back into the wild. They also do educational programs, and have an animal hospital on-site. I was able to get some close-up pics of two of their American Bald Eagles, and got some shots of one of their vultures and a raven in flight. You want to see some real magic, that's the place.
**The Schulenberg Prairie at the Morton Arboretum in Naperville, IL. They are resurrecting a native prairie, with all kinds of plants like turkey foot, compass plant, prairie dock, and a lot more. This place is home to a number of birds and deer. Some of the old paths across the prairie are overgrown, but it is great to walk around out there. Local photographers and painters also love the place.

Anywhere near an ocean or large body of water...away from the ways of man...enveloped in the grace and beauty of God's creation...oh so much to thankful for...Catherine.

The comments about freeing Yellowstone from the noise and pollution of snowmobile(r)s reminded me of the best camping trip I ever took, and the fact that some of the places I visited are now threatened by the leasing of adjacent land for gas and oil drilling. Just a friend and I, in the early 90's, toured and camped at some of the national parks and monuments of Arizona and Utah, all places to which I'd never been. We were coming from our homes in L.A., which probably helped make the experience all the more overwhelming. Grand Canyon, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion were just a few of the places we stopped. And now Bush wants to leave office in a blaze of ignominious glory by heaping more misery on ourselves and our natural world in his waning days. Although a regional Park Service director, Michael Snyder, asked the Bureau of Land Management's state director, Selma Sierra - I wonder if she was chosen for the doublespeak impact of her name - to pull the tracts to allow more time for public comment, she refused.

Tracts right next to Arches, Canyonlands and other locations in Utah are going up for auction right before Christmas, an early present and another undue gift to Big Petroleum. Not surprising but it also must not be allowed! I urge this organization and its supporters to fight against this impending horror. The next time I travel to Arches National Park the only structures I'm interested in seeing are natural rock, not manmade derrick or pipeline.

Thank you to all of you bloggers for lifting my spirits and giving me hope. Sometimes I feel very alone out here in trying to preserve wild places and wildlife. Thank you to the Wildness Society for all you do.

I grew up in Wyoming. Many of you mention Yellowstone. It is so nice to hear that many of you hold dear the wild places and wildlife. I left Wyoming only to return when I grew older for obvious reasons - it is home. There are many, many places in the world which are beautiful and I only pray that they can be preserved and saved. I have been to a few of those wonderful places - enough to realize we don't have them all here in this state. But mostly I'm so happy to read your blogs that mention all the wild places you hold dear. I pray that you can infect your friends and neighbors with your influence and spread the awareness that our world and the earth should be carefully handled. We should all be good stewards and take care of our world whether we are more educated and well off financially or not. If we speak to others about how we feel soon the idea that taking care of our planet is a good idea and not some novelty idea which will soon go away. Maybe with a new President more people will lift their voices and express a conservationist approach to wild places and wildlife.

Wyoming is not the place it used to be when I was young - a CRUSH of cars and people have changed it. Wyoming is a wild place through out the whole state, or was. Now it is divided by roads - highways and county roads, subdivisions, oil and gas development. Some of the landscape has changed drastically. Travelers kill much of the wildlife who are crossing the roads, in one 12 mile stretch close to 400 animals were hit and killed in one year, that is more that one per day! It keeps the body shop very happy with a constant influx of work.

I am so very thankful that their are wildness areas, National Parks and Forests. I am thankful there are so many of you that also enjoy and want to protect the beauty and the bounty this world has to offer. Share your love of wilderness with someone else, please. So that this idea of preservation and protection can catch on with other people. Thank you Wildness Society for letting me express my thoughts.

I am grateful for the Western Slope of Colorado. We moved here from CA 1 1/2 years ago. There are so many beautiful lakes around us to see. I love the summer, but the snow is pretty too. It's nice to have a change. There are so many places of beauty to see here in CO. I hope we get a chance to see some of them. Thanks

Im just grateful for planet earth and do all I can verbally to help save it !! Best, berry

I have travelled the whole world over and enjoyed the beauty of every place I have been. I have seen mountains and oceans but I have also seen joy and tragedy. I have learned sometimes beauty does not come from the things we see but from the people we meet and I have been fortunate enough to have met many beautiful people! I would have to say I have not one favorite place but many. Due to my travels, I have seen so many things, learned new languages, and met new friends. This planet earth - our grandmother is my favorite place and our people is what makes her beautiful!

I grew up spending summers at a Y Camp on Spirit Lake at the base of Mount St. Helen's in Washington. Even as a teenager I knew it was a special and magical place. I spent 10 days hiking the Mt Margaret backcountry - a whole beautiful string of alpine lakes the summer before my junior year in college. And then a few years later the mountain blew. I flew over the area within a year of the eruption but it took 18 years to go back on the ground. Since then it is part of an annual pilgrimage. The power of nature is evident everywhere not only in terms of the kind of destruction she can create but also the power to rebuild and regenerate. It is place with a capital P. This summer the road to my favorite views, hikes and that Mt. Margaret backcountry was covered in snow late into the season and then in need of much work. My fear myself, my children, others is that there will not be money to fix that road. But then maybe it is best left to recover without any interference from us. It will only keep the magical and spirit of the place in tact. That seems to be a rare thing these days. When I die I want my ashes scattered there. Because I know God dwells there too.

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving to All: It seems only appropriate to express gratitude for The Wilderness Society and for everyone who lends a helping hand to protect and preserve our beloved country's wild places for the enjoyment and education of all Americans, but most especially for future generations to come!

I haven't had much opportunity to travel outside the State of Maine where I live, so I would have to say that my favorite "wild place" would definitely have to be "Baxter State Park" and "Acadia National Park"! However, even without seeing our country's beloved state and national parks, I am extremely grateful for each and every one of them! We Americans owe it to ourselves, our children and grandchildren, and all future generations to do everything in our power to protect and defend these wonderful places that I myself, and I'm sure so many of you have come to LOVE! Thank you for letting me share my thoughts, gratitude, and hopes with all of you! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Sincerely, Mary S. in Maine

My family has been at Oquaga Lake, Deposit, New York for six generations. Each summer, I look so forward to the sweetness of the air, as if the fragrance of every forest berry had just been released. I have traveled on many continents and backpacked through wilderness, but there is no other place on earth that offers that delicate fragrance.
When I swim to the cove from our house, I think about where the water has come from and is going to. The lake is like a mother who holds and caresses me. I look at my hands as they rhythmically stroke through the deep green waters Shining bubbles of light appear to explode from my fingertips, as the morning sun filters through the water illuminating them. Often I walk the path from our road up to through the woods, or over to the blueberry patch.

Now I wonder if this was the last summer I'll ever be able to savor that blessing. Haliburton has developed a new horizontal drilling technology to drill for natural gas using 245 toxic chemicals and 3-6 million gallons of water per well. They plan to drill more than a mile deep in hundreds of locations into the Marcellus Shale, which is highly radioactive compared to other shale deposits. As of July of 2008, energy companies had leased 46,000 acres around my home, and they are continuing to lease. In addition, those landowners who refuse to lease are forced to participate under compulsory integration. When I found out, I simply cried through dinner at the thought of it. Drilling will occur 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the initial fracturing and subsequent re-fracturing of each well on a rotating, continuous basis. Diesel powered compressors will remain on each well pad running 24 hours a day for the life of the well, which could be decades. Oversized truck traffic will tear up our rural roads, thundering past our homes and spewing diesel fumes into the once pure air. Endocrinologists cite examples of toxicity in aquifers causing infertility and brain damage in areas where this type of drilling has occurred. If this disaster is allowed to go forward unabated, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the peace we feel in the silence of the early morning, the stillness of night would be no more. These intangible, yet very real resources – the right of human beings to breathe air that has life in it, to drink pure health giving water, to be surrounded by sacred silence help us to experience God’s grace.

Please help. This issue is being under-reported and it affects not only our home, but all of the area under the Marcellus Shale in 1/3 of New York State, 2/3 of Pennsylvania, 1/4 of Ohio, and a portion of West Virginia and Maryland. Read the NYSDEC Draft Scope and write your comments during the period for comment which ends Dec 15. Written comments will be accepted by mail or email until the close of business on December 15, 2008.
Mail comments to: Attn: Scope Comments, Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral
Resources, 625 Broadway, Third Floor, Albany, NY 12233-6500.
Email comments to: dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us
with “Scope Comments” in the subject line. Include your name and return mail or email address to ensure receipt of
a copy of the Final Scope when it is available.
Natural Gas is not a "green alternative". This new extraction process is ten times more toxic than oil drilling.

Thank you for your protection of our sacred spaces.

First, thank you to Kristen, to the Wilderness Society, to all commenters, and to all who work to protect the earth we live on. Your letters bring tears to my eyes. I am so grateful that we may be in time to reverse the damages done by over-industrializing our planet home. Thank you to all who have made that possible, even perhaps the greedy that stimulate us to take action we might otherwise be content not to take. Let us commit to reversing the harms and doing what we can, where we are, with what we have.

Of all the great spaces in our beautiful land, my personal favorites are all in the Pacific Northwest. I love the mountains and ocean and desert and volcanic lands and temperate zone rain forests and old growth groves of Oregon, the giant redwood forests of northern California, and I plan to visit Olympic National Park with my husband one day soon.

I too have seen sites from coast to coast; what an incredible land we live in. The low country of the southeast with its huge flocks of birds; the Atlantic ocean, especially the estuaries where tiny wild sea creatures are nurtured; glorious foliage color in New England in the fall; the thundering sensations and flowing waters of Niagara Falls; the cool greenness of the Delaware Water Gap in summer; the lovely rivers that flow into the great Mississippi; the Great Muddy itself; the huge forests of the Great Lakes areas; the susurrating and subtle beauty of the prairies; the inspiring grandness of the Rocky Mountains; the beautiful sunsets and desert colors in New Mexico; the northern reaches of the delta landscape in southern Illinois' Shawnee Forest; these are all places I've visited and loved. I hope to see and smell and hear and taste many more of the places mentioned on this blog before my life ends. Thanks to all who shared.

First of all, I could not help but see quite a few commenters had visited Arizona where I have lived since January 1972. I also saw quite a few had visited places in New England. Raised in Connecticut, and living two years in Massachusetts, I have seen a few in the past. I had the pleasure of staying a few days on Nantucket Island and touring Cape Cod. My family skiied in Burlington, VT and traveled to Old Sturbridge Village and Mystic Seaport. When my twin sister and I were very young, our dad took us to Five Islands, Maine, a fishing village in Georgetown, to spend two weeks each summer for two or three summers and we had a great time climbing the rocks along the coast, swimming at Reed State Park, and picking blueberries. We took the ferry to Boothbay Harbor quite a few times, browsing through the gift shops for such trinkets as lobster traps and seashells. The ferry no longer operates as our visits were back in the mid 50s. The small of he salt of the seawater was intoxicating and the cry of seagulls was always present, especially when it was time for my sister and I to dump the garbage off the pier and watch them swoop down to eat. Neither of us were old enough to think ahead to when such places may not be around to enjoy any more as we were barely five and six. Now, with so many different things to threaten our wildlife, more and more people are becoming aware of the future of wildlife and its habitat. Thank God for organizations such as The Wildness Society to spread the word and use any means to preserve our natural world for future generations. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

I live along the Yuba river in Nevada City California. To me there is no place more beautiful or peaceful than the banks of the Yuba. In the summer the air is hot, the drive down to the river is dusty, and the walk to reach just the right spot is a bit steep, but when you reach your destination the water is sparkling, clean, and just the perfect temperature for refreshment.
There is a certain sound that everyone who enters this river makes. It is a long low sigh of satisfaction. It used to amaze me that everyone made exactly the same sound upon entering the water, but now I recognize it as the sound of coming home.
The Yuba river is long and winding, and there are many beautiful spots along the way, but there is one that is better than any other. As a true lover of the river I can't name the spot but if you happen to be in Nevada city on a hot summer day, all you have to do is follow the smiling people to find the most refreshing spot on earth.

I have visited Sedona multiple times and I never tire of it. I live in the deep South and keep a picture of the red rocks in my office to remind me of the serene, restful feeling I get when I'm there. It is a calming, beautiful place and I hope the city tries to keep it as wild and natural as possible and keep as much of the land protected from development as possible. It has become more commercial in recent years but I hope they stay vigilant and protect one of the most beautiful spots in America.

First off, you need an edit button on this, I went back to edit and lost it all...LOL.

I have seen Niagra Falls from the Canadian side when I went to Expo 67. I have been from the Atlantic to the Pacific, seen the Redwoods, the Rockies, Smokies, Grand Tetons, Beartooths, Mt. Rushmore, badlands, Carlsbad Caverns, Mamouth Caves, Yellowstone, The Great Sand Dunes in Co. the Grand Canyon, I could go on and on. I`ve seen Gods country from sea to shinig sea. The beauty of it all is AMAZING! I`m thankful to my dad who took us traveling every summer growing up. One can only pray that it all doesn`t turn into cement. I`m thankful to God for giving us such beauty for the eye to behold and sharing it with us. We must protect these places for generations to come. For the future generations to share the beauty, peace and tranqulity that these places offer, to commune with nature and Creator at the same time. This can`t be done if we let people in that will destroy these precious lands. Thank you Wilderness Society for all you do to protect Gods masterpieces. The beauty of our own backyard in the great US of A! Happy Thanksgivng to all!

I was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario and although I didn't grow up there - I have gone back many times. I also have lots of family in Niagara Falls, New York. It doesn't matter if you go there once or one hundred times - you just never get over the beauty and the strength of nature. I always forget how enormous it really is until I stand there and just watch. You have to see it in all seasons - it is a spectacular sight. And it also reminds me that nature is wonderful and that I should just enjoy it.

I am grateful for our beautiful Shoshone Falls, the Niagara of the West. It truly shows the full beauty of Mother Nature when it is roaring over the precipice. It is even more magical when a rainbow appears over the face of the falls. It is just one of many natural beauties that Idaho has to offer.

I am grateful for the clear, cold, pure water and the northern shores of Lake Superior where I grew up and live.

The Mogollon Rim, Arizona

The "Rim" holds a very special place in my life. It is an escarpment that crosses much of northern Arizona. This is mountainous country with deeply cut canyons, some streams, and some small lakes. There are parts that are protected wilderness. The Rim spans parts of Tonto and Coconino National Forests. There are thick forests of Ponderosa Pine. Many parts of the Rim are rough country, other parts are gentle. All of it is beautiful, and much is easily accessible. From Payson, go north on Route 87 to Forest route 300, which will wind you around much of one beautiful part of the rim. Take a deep breath and feel the magic.

I have hiked and camped many areas of the Rim, and I haven't even seen a lot of it. It is clean air; it is peaceful. There are deer, elk, bear, mountain lion, javelina, many lizards, squirrels, turkeys, the occasional fox. It allows me to reconnect with my soul.

Judy

One of my favorite moments was on Bums beach off the LIttle Grassy Lake, summer and we were suppose to go swimming but the temperature dropped and wasn't really excited about going. The water wate so perfect and still. It was hard telling what part of you was in the lake and not. It started trickling, making all these circular patterns on the lake and the SOUND was so vast and sweet I didnt want to breathe. I moved to Chicago 10 years ago. Miss the smell of the sweet onions in the spring, the ratio more trees to human, and the rain of leaves in the fall.

I love the comment about Baxter State Park, and I quite agree--as a kid in Maine (1969-81), my family visited there many times, and I can remember sliding down the falls in the streams running down from Mt. Katahdin. I currently live with my wife in upstate New York, in the foothills of the Catskills, and when I first arrived here 6 1/2 years ago, I quickly realised that I had always needed mountains on my horizon, and the Catskills were those mountains. I also realised just how much I'd missed the Northeast in my 20-odd years down South, in Louisiana (1981-93) and Tennessee (1994-2002). I was born in Tennessee in the fall of 1968, so it was not until my return there 26 years later that I came to appreciate that state's natural beauty--the Cumberland Plateau and the Smoky Mountains (I lived in Knoxville for 10 months) have some really gorgeous scenery--and even only at 15 years' remove do the Louisiana bayous take on the colouring of affection (I was talking with a co-worker just today about teenage Saturday mornings spent fishing with my dad there). My wife and I were married on a blustery Sunday afternoon in the Catskills in October 2004, the fall colours blazing all round us, and it's here, and New England, in the fall that I come to appreciate this region's natural beauty, and why it's in the Northeast that I feel truly at home. I've seen wildlife here, too--bears trundling across roads or driveways in search of something only they know about for sure--but the message of how necessary conservation is only hit home on the Fourth of July weekend this year.

My wife and I had opted to spend the weekend in the Greater Boston area, and we had 2 really wonderful experiences on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the day we and three friends took a whale-watching tour out of Boston Harbour out to Stellwagen Banks, where we observed half a dozen humpback whales cavorting about near the surface of the waters in the Gulf of Maine. I can't even begin to describe the sense of joy and wonderment just the sight of fins and flukes penetrating the Atlantic waters gave us all--it brought home just how important it is that these gentle giants be allowed to continue traversing the oceans of our world. The second experience came while we were visiting my wife's cousins who live in Boxford, north of the city of Boston, in an area my wife and I plan to move to within the year. They took us for a drive round Cape Ann, and just outside the town of Ipswich, we happened on Wolf Hollow, which is an actual wolf sanctuary. We went in and paid $7 apiece to see their presentation of the wolves (there are 4 in residence, plus a wolf-hybrid puppy brought in because one of the wolves needed a companion); it's an hour long and very well put-together, giving you all the facts about wolves--e.g. they are truly no threat to man, nor have ever been, and their family model inspired that of the Native Americans--and during the course of the presentation, the wolves all howled in unison! For anyone who's never had the experience of hearing a wolf howl, it is truly the most wild sound known to man--thrilling, in a word. I recommend a visit to the place for anyone finding themselves in the vicinity of Ipswich, MA, and if I'm not mistaken, their website is http://www.wolfhollow.org ...but if I have that wrong, you can easily Google up "Wolf Hollow Ipswich MA" and find them. They were the first animals to be placed on the Endangered Species list, and were recently removed by the Bush Administration at the behest of a hunters' group; doubtless we have all heard of the "denning" incident that occurred in Alaska on Sarah Palin's watch? This must not be allowed to continue--we need the wolves as much as we need our other creatures, and I think we should lobby our new President to fix this terrible injustice.

To Kristen Brengel
The Wilderness Society

Thank you so much for your email as we all, as Americans come upon This truly appreciative Thanksgiving Day. We honestly have SO MUCH to be thankful for, to be fortunate enough to live in this great nation of ours.

Originally born in Louisville Kentucky, my first memorable grand scale appreciation of nature comes from my first visit to Mammoth Cave National Park. From the sprawling forests that surround the mouth of the cave that make you feel like you are on expedition with Louis & Clark or Daniel Boone, to the vast number of cave tours full of suspense and wonder, history and education, awe inspiring sites "down-under," those that make us all seem so small in this wonderful land that we live.

As I grew to adulthood, my adventures took me west to reside in Los Angeles California. After seeing the Painted Dessert of New Mexico (I-70), then on to Flagstaff AZ and the view of the Grand Canyon, my list of "things to do before I die" grew to a point where I wondered if I would ever have the chance to experience all that our country has to offer.

I made a good dent in it during my time in California (10 years) from learning to surf in the Pacific Ocean at Zuma Beach, to white water rafting in the mountains of Lake Isabella overlooking Kern County California and my extended vacation in the dessert of Wikeup Az where I once awoke to the site and sound of a wild herd of horses galloping across the horizon, not to mention my vacation with my partner at Yosemite National Forrest. The sites of Angel Falls and lazy drives through the canyons all built up to the joy I felt in my lengthy stay in a rustic cabin. Seeing and experiencing Death Valley, the windmills in the high California Dessert outside Palm Springs, the awe I experienced traveling through the grapevine, “the worlds salad bowl,” and living on the beach in Santa Barbara. These are ALL, just a few of the memories branded in my mind.

Now my life has just eclipsed by half and still, I have not seemed to scratch the surface of all there is to experience up close and personal. My dreams still hold to take an Am-track from Chicago across the northwest, stopping in South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial, then through the Rockies, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, stopping FINALLY at Yellowstone National Park, the once in a lifetime MUST SEE!!! Then I want to go on through to Seattle, down the 1 HWY along the Pacific Coast, stopping when I take a notion, to breath in all that those views of the ocean and pristine coastline have to offer.

After enduring the viral assault of the past 8 years, we can all breathe a sigh of relief, (at least for the foreseeable future) that what has been endangered and violated both for our nation and our world, now please, take just a moment on this most important Thanksgiving Day, to be ever so grateful, yet hopeful still, that we still have a chance to repair this ruthless attack on the world around us all.

Your welcome and ....Thank you, for your gracious email of appreciation and let us ALL as United Citizens of this Planet vow NEVER to allow, so called "Conservative Ideology" to pull the wool over our eyes, lull us into false contentment, and be tricked into believing that some certain few, care for anything or anyone but themselves.

N E V E R F O R G E T T H I S T I M E I N O U R H I S T O R Y !!! For the sake of our children and ALL future generations to come, vote to keep America moving in a GREEN and renewable energy ONLY, direction.

Very Sincerely Yours,
Jamie Miller Architect

On this day approaching Thanksgiving, I wish to give thanks to the people that have made our National Parks possible. We must defend them at every turn. Of all the places I have been, the Smoky Mountains hold so many memories and are so very special. In my mind I would love to be at Silers Bald or Mollies Field right now. Thanks to my special friends Marna and Rayma who made our trip on the AT so wonderful. I give thanks to the Wilderness Society for being such a strong advocate of conservation, and wish everyone a happy holiday.

Thanks Kristin for you heartfelt acknowledgement and thank you's for my support. It is my pleasusre to become involved with this wonderful group of people who , like me, care about our environment. Anything that I can do to help your cause, just let me know. I am new to the computer world, and having access to the internet has been truly inspiring for me. I can contribute my support to all of the environmental causes and maybe make a difference. There are so many places I'd love to visit, and places that I've seen for myself. The first time I saw the Rocky Mountains, it took my breath away. I flew to colorado Springs at night, so imagine my surprise that morning I walked outside. The sky was pitch black from a storm front passing through. And those huge mountains against that ominous sky... well I'd never been moved to tears by my surroundings until that day in July of 1981. I hope to get to see them once again. But we do have great State Parks here in Maryland. I live in Southwest
Baltimore, but I watched a red-tailed hawk a couple of mornings ago, he was huge and just as regal and contented. Earnestly sitting in my neighbor's huge, old, oak tree, with a pair of crows screaming at him to leave. Through my binoculars I could see that imposing beak, and see his eyes dart back and forth, scanning the ground for his breakfast. Really neat considering downtown Baltimore just a few blocks away. I adore nature, anyway, anywhere, anyhow. I look forward to seeing all these beautiful places I just read about from this one emailing. May they remain untouched and protected through the efforts of people like you and now someone like me who can actually help the cause. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all my new internet friends. Together, we can and will make a difference.

Certainly I have my favorite wild places, particularly the Boundary Waters Wilderness near my home in northern Minnesota. Yet these aren't what I'd like to share at this time. Instead, I have some thoughts about just what has been rescued out of our tragic national history to inspire the youth of today. A veteran university professor and environmental activist, I am just concluding a special course 'Nature and the Cultural Imagination.' The story my teaching partner and I have been tracing in recent weeks -- the Industrial Revolution, Manifest Destiny and the 'conquest' of the West, the failures of polar exploration and failures of modernity in all respects -- has not been a very optimistic one. Our themes of wanton exploitation and the seemingly inevitable destruction of wilderness might have a deadening depressive effect on our students. There has been, however, one bright ray of hope -- our national efforts as early as the 1870s to preserve special wild places in our National Parks. We don't need to preach a message; the historical facts speak for themselves. Preservation was hard to accomplish, and its legacy is about all we have left. When these young people have come to understand that for 10,000 years the presence of something wholly beyond ourselves has shaped the human imagination, our deepest thoughts and greatest aspirations, they can rejoice that something of this wild otherness yet survives, and inspired by it, that they can yet survive as true human beings. For our common future, this is everything.

Personally, I don't get to visit wild places and the iconic national parks of our beautiful country as often as I'd like. Supporting preservation efforts is sometimes the closest I get! So I wanted to say thanks to you for the work The Wilderness Society is doing on behalf of all creatures, furry and not.
Arianna

The Redrock Canyons of Utah are one of my many favorites... They truly are inspiring.

I have been blessed in 2008 to visit both Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and Red Rock Canyon in Nevada for the first time. Both were simply breathtaking. I also enjoyed watching the seasons change in New Hampshire's White Mountains, but beyond a doubt what feeds my soul are the quite moments spent exploring the Cape Cod National Seashore (MA), truly an American Treasure!

Yellowstone is my Favorite National Park. I have even snowmobiled there from 1978-1992. It was a gratifying experience since I was able to see more Wildlife than I ever did during the summer visits. At that time, only a limited number of snowmobiles were allowed into the Park at a time. We looked at the native animals in awe and they looked at us as another visitor to their homeland. We were remanded to designated trails and not allowed to stray. We would only stop to photograph the scenery or the Wildlife. There was no breach of the protocal for visiting the Park. Having been a rancher at the time, I thought it would have been neat to carry several sacks of range cubes on the snowmobile to throw out to the bison. But, I know that would not have been allowed. I still think that snowmobiles should be allowed in the Park. However, I do agree that they should be limited in number. One can argue about the noise pollution but my observation was that the Wildlife did not seem to care. We were in essence something different to look at rather than the white landscape.

A few years ago I went to Bannack, Mt. for the first time. I will never forget this "off the beaten path" little
ghost town. It was the first gold mining town in Montana in 1856. It was the most peaceful place! As I sat
on the steps of the Hotel Meade, a long abandoned place, the only thing I could hear was the soft gurgling
of Grasshopper Creek. Now and the buzz of a fly, but that's all. There are wooden planked walkways, and
many little stores and homes where people worked and lived for many years. An old gold mining building
still stands, and many old wagons, wheels, wheelbarrows are also scattered about. Donkeys and deer
graze quietly amongst the barren trees and rolling hills. It is a most beautuful place. Then I went back
every year after that, once it was lightly covered with snow, and that was even more beautiful. Now I have
a book in the works, have already written poetry about that lovely place. Bannack is near the small cowboy
town of Dillon, Mt. Another quaint little place to visit. If you love photography as I do, then Bannack is
the place to let your camera take control. It's one of my most favorite places.

Two years ago, a friend and I motorcycled from Illinois to Alaska and back. It was an unbelievable trip. One of the greatest of many highlights, was our tour of Denali NP. While initially disappointed that we could only travel a short way into the park on our own, we signed on for the full day 84 mile guided trip into the park on the bus.

It was a misty overcast day, and the mountain was nowhere in sight, but the experience offered was one of the most profound I have experienced. The grandeur of huge expanses of rugged wilderness, of territory saved for generations to see and for the wildlife to exist in as they have for ages, was incredible to feel. We were lucky enough to see everything that day: grizzlies in confrontations with wolves over a fresh kill of Denali sheep, caribou on a ridge, massive moose drinking from a stream only yards away, ptarmigan, eagles, a cautious red fox and more. The entire trip was an almost mystical experience.

It was only after 11 hours on the tour and back at our camp, did we realize that the foresight of the park managers to restrict access within the depth of the park had allowed us to see and HEAR the land as it should be, without cars (or our motorcycles) streaming by the activities we all were enthralled with watching in real time.

So, my thanks are to the wisened ones who understood long before I understood that Denali is THEIR place, and we must be greatful to be allowed to visit their home without mucking up the floors, so to speak.

As an Indigenous/multiethnic person who values spirituality and nature, I am grateful every day for the beauty, diversity, and sustaining powers of this earth and the species who inhabit it. Every natural environment is inspirational to me; among my favorites are the redrock country of southwestern Utah, the redwood forests of Sequoia in central California, and the California coast. But my favorite is the Mojave Desert of southern California, where I was privileged to live for three wonderful years on acreage that was home to many species including kangaroo rats, wood rats, field mice, Pine-gopher snakes, Mojave Green rattlesnakes, sidewinders, California quail, redtailed and other species of hawks, prairie falcons, golden eagles, collared and other lizards, scorpions, grey and ground squirrels, gophers, cottontail and jack rabbits, mountain lions, bears, deer, red foxes, and coyotes. This beautiful and fragile ecosystem is being encroached upon by developers and by those who see it as a vast playground for their ORV's; those who, like myself, love and value our deserts are fighting to preserve the Mojave and keep development and ORV use to a minimum. The High Desert is a place of unique and unparalleled beauty. May it always remain a viable home for the species who inhabit it, and a place of beauty, tranquility, and inspiration for those of us fortunate enough to live there or visit it.

I am grateful for living on a planet with so many beautiful, precious animals. What would life be without them? Yet man treats them as if they do not matter, as if they don't feel pain, lonliness, or love. My prayer is that man would begin to understand that we shouldn't eat the other inhabitants of this planet and that we should appreciate them for the wonderful, loving gifts they are. All are entitled to live their lives and should be allowed to live them freely. My prayer is that man becomes more kind, compassionate, and humane towards all animals, especially farm animals for that I would be truly Grateful.

I am forever thankful for the marvelous existence of a National Park System as such, and for the chance to be proud of my country for having originated this concept and enabled it to spread to many other lands. Every time I visit the Madison Junction area in Yellowstone, a feeling of reverence comes over me, thinking of the gift to mankind that party of explorers were making who there conceived the national park idea. I have savored visits to national parks as magnificent as ours in Canada and New Zealand, as well as some less grand but still reflecting the national park idea -- in England, in Australia, and in Estonia. Long may they all be protected.

My favorite national park remains the one I happen to reside closest to, and visit most frequently -- Mt. Rainier. For a vicarious experience of this national park at its best, I urge anyone to enjoy my wife's little book : UPS AND DOWNS AROUND RAINIER, about a family back-packing adventure, hiking its 93-mile Wonderland Trail.

William R. Catton, Jr.
Professor Emeritus
Washington State University

Keep up the good work and God bless. This earth belongs to all of us and we
should do all we can to preserve its natural beauty. I hope you also care about
suffering animals as I do. They are a wonderful part of God's creation but
sadly too many look upon them as ours to do with as we please. I see a soul
(life entity) in their eyes and certainly they have the same beating hearts, blood
vessels, etc as we as well as basic needs which are not always met.

It's kind of like a prayer, reading about people's gratitude and descriptions of our country's majesty. Heartening to know there is still so much natural glory, and that such fine people are dedicated to its well-being. Still, there remains that huge divide between those privileged and educated enough to serve as stewards, and those scrambling for a few square feet in the inner city. The task of protecting this Earth falls squarely on us, the privileged, not those who may never experience a wilderness hike or see an ocean wave. I groan sometimes over endless emails requiring action and donations, I'm rarely "in the mood" to craft a plea or cough up my credit card, but I'm grateful to be someone who CAN. My thanks-giving this year goes to all of you who have made the commitment to sustain that which sustains us. It can feel overwhelming and solitary, giving what feels like so little when so so much is needed, but the human spirit is just as grand as the rocky peak or desert expanse. And we can hold strong, unify, work harder, spread the word, shrink our carbon footprint, and turn the tide.

On a practical note, please remember that eating less meat (and fish!), eating less of everything, buying and consuming less of everything are the biggest contributions we can make.

Happy Holidays from gorgeous Kaua'i (where we constantly fight for every square inch),
Wendy Raebeck