Thanksgiving salute: Which wild place are you thankful for?

I am grateful for all the wild places even the ones I may never see nor visit. I am just glad they are there.

I agree with previous posters that I am thankful for all the natural areas. My special favorites are Everglades and Glacier National Parks because of family memories.

I am thankful to have the oceans and such beatuiful and starange marine life--too bad other don't see it. I fight hard for the oceans and artic and I'm glad that I, at least, have a chance to save them. Happy Holidays all! =))

Im thankful for nature in all its glory. To be able to partake in our wonderful worls is what Im thankful for.

I remember clearly the first time I was moved deeply by the spectacle that I was standing in the middle of high up
in a mountain meadow bordered by tall and wind shaped pines. My father had driven my sister and I up to this spot. I forget the certain significance of why my father had brought us there but l remember thinking to myself that this is where I want to be buried; a curious thought for a 4 year old boy. I couldn't say exactly where this place is but since then I've felt the same deep connection with the earth time and time again. I'm not a religious man exactly but never is there a time when I feel closer to god than when I'm in nature. I have traveled a good amount through America and truly it is an amazing landscape. This landscape is much more than a pretty picture and a nice place to visit. This landscape, nature and the creatures that live in it as well as ourselves are entwined. I could no more blow the top off of a mountain and scour the Earth for coal
than cut off my arm when it isn't necessary. I hope that mountain meadow that moved me so when I was a young boy
will be there someday for another young one to marvel at and be filled.

I have just finished reading your news magazine from cover to cover and am blown away by all your "notable achievements over the past year." I felt so uplifted by the glorious pictures of wilderness areas you've helped protect and am more determined than ever to support your efforts to keep them from being spoiled by greedy oil and gas congomerates. I feel much more hopeful than I have in the past with the BP oil spill and the threats to the Arctic. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK and I will be right there to help support you.

I was fortunate to grow up in the Bitterroot valley of Southwestern Montana and Blodgett Canyon has always been one of my favorite wilderness areas to seek solace and peace of mind, also I have to tip my hat to Yosemite National Park and also where I currently reside in Colorado we have the Colorado National Monument and I am thankful these places are protected and set asite for future generations to enjoy

I have been so very Thankful jn my life to be able to visit Alaska and stay in the wilderness. There I was able to re=connennectwith myself Spiritually as well as physically. To be able to walk around in nature and feel as one and enjoy the land as well as the majestic Moose, Caribou, Whales and Bears was a feeling not to be believed. I am so very greatful for being able to visit Alaska over and over.
I am also very greatful to live in a Country that has so very many Beautiful Historic Landmarks, Points of Interest, Waterways, WIldlife Habitats, Woods, Forrests and Wildlife. To be able to walk the same places at the same time and truely enjoy what we have is a privaledge. And we must ALL do our share to PROTECT what we have here.

I have been so very Thankful jn my life to be able to visit Alaska and stay in the wilderness. There I was able to re=connennectwith myself Spiritually as well as physically. To be able to walk around in nature and feel as one and enjoy the land as well as the majestic Moose, Caribou, Whales and Bears was a feeling not to be believed. I am so very greatful for being able to visit Alaska over and over.
I am also very greatful to live in a Country that has so very many Beautiful Historic Landmarks, Points of Interest, Waterways, WIldlife Habitats, Woods, Forrests and Wildlife. To be able to walk the same places at the same time and truely enjoy what we have is a privaledge. And we must ALL do our share to PROTECT what we have here.

I WOULD HAVE TO SAY THE ARTIC REGION.THE WHALES,DOLPHINS,SEALS AND OTHER CREATURES THERE ARE NOT PROTECTED LIKE THEY SHOULD BE.THE SEA SHEPHERD HELPS PROTECT THE WHALES AND I WISH I COULD BE WITH THEM AS THEY LEAVE PORT THIS YEAR.ANNA

I had the privilege in summer 2009 to take an 11-day canoe trip through this vast wilderness area in the Northwest Territories, home to arctic wolves, grizzly, musk ox and an amazing diversity of wildflowers. Despite the harsh winters, this tundra area is also full of great rushing rivers, ice-covered lakes (even in early summer) and muskeg (or bogs) teeming with plant life (and mosquitos!). Stunning clarity of air, and water you can drink right out of any stream. The Thelon has already been threatened by mining interests (uranium, lead) and will require considerable vigilance to keep it whole.

Last year a walk around this old growth forest made me realize how small and young we all are and how beautiful nature can be.

I had the opportunity to spend a night out in the Pecos Wilderness in northern New Mexico this past June. It was one of my favorite places that I've visited thus far. This remote wilderness was stunningly beautiful with fragrant evergreens, and crystal clear rushing streams. I would recommend it to anyone who has not had a chance to visit. It definitely surprised me with its beauty and interesting geography. I recorded a short video of my experience there if anyone is interested: Click here to watch it.
Thanks for the opportunity to share.
In Humble Gratitude,
Brandon

I am thankful for the Caledon park in eastern Virginia. As one of the largest summer sites for bald eagles, this park plays an important role in the protection of our national heritage.

Living in the San Juan mountains of SW Colorado has given our family easy access to many of the parks, wildernesses and scenic areas of our adoptive state and the surrounding states of NM, UT, WY, and AZ. From our home built into the side of a foothill at 8,000 ft. we can view a wide variety of wildlife and bird life wandering undisturbed through our mixed-conifer forest acreage.
I am so thankful to be part of this vanishing environment and hope and pray that future generations will be able to enjoy access to land that is still wild --as close to wild as it can be.
All deserve the means to observe the best parts of this beautiful country to be left in a state nearly as pristine as it was when the first European explorers and early mountain men saw it.

Having been to Denali National Park at least 6 times in the past, I still remember the thrill of seeing one of the most gorgeous sliver gray female wolves there. She was hoping to retrieve a piece of an old caribou hide that had been a result of a wolf kill which was usurped by a large male Grizzly bear. As the bear was scooping arctic ground squirrels out of the tundra, he still kept a wary eye on the distant wolf, and if she showed an interest in the hide, he rushed her. Thankfully she was able to evade him, but she must have been extremely hungry to attempt to recover a bit of that hide. Katmai National Monument when I saw it offered the best Lynx sightings for me, and I hope to revisit it again, however I am boycotting Alaska tourism because i am furious over the stupidity and greed of the past ,and recent Governors who reinstated aerial wolf slaughter via fixed wing aircraft; and more recently helicopters which wiped out all of the wolves in the Yukon-Charley refuge, where Canadian biologists had been studying them. Ignorant and greedy Governors in Alaska are to blame for the wanton killing of wolves which are a KEYSTONE SPECIES of wildlife, AND URGENTY NEED PROTECTION.
Glacier National Park is also one I have visited many times and enjoyed immensely too., followed by Yellowstone, which has become revitalized sine the reintroduction of wolves which enabled the overbrowsed (by Elk) Aspens and Birch groves to recover and once more host snowshoe hares, beavers and Lynx. Our wonderful Plains Bison urgently need protection in harsh winters when they cannot brush the excessively deep snow away with their horns to find forage. If they migrate out of the park, the Montana cattlemen's association personnel have been killing thousands of them, over a misplaced fear that the bison might have brucellosis. (They stopped blood testing bison which was the original plan). Brucellosis is a an imported European cattle disease that arrived in the USA when the cattle barons had their heyday and ran their motley livestock all over the Western States, without any controls coming from Wash. D.C. to stop that nefarious practise! Elk were exposed to it also and caught the disease, but the powerful and selfish elk hunters Lobby made sure that elk that migrated out of Yellowstone would not be shot. The bison do not have such friends in powerful places. Besides the cattle can easily be vaccinated against brucellosis with strain 19 brucella vaccine which is easy to do and results in effective protection from that disease. But the selfish cattlemen still dislike our magnificent bison, and the cattlemen deserve to get their comeuppance once and for all!! ( I was a livestock veterinarian early in my career, and I know the cattlemen and woolgrowers too well!!!)
To save our precious wildlife species such as wolves, Mountain caribou, wolverines, fishers, martens, we need to be persistent in getting the President's attention to ORDER THE SEC'Y OF THE INTERIOR TO DO THE JOB HE WAS ELECTED FOR, AND TO STOP PANDERING TO THE GREEDY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS WHO WOULD LOVE TO DESTROY THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, ALONG WITH THE SPECIES IT IS INTENDED TO PROTECT!!

I'm thankful for the Missouri Ozarks, where I spent a week every summer for five years as a Boy Scout. I'm thankful for the green, rolling hills of West Virginia, and the mountains(there were 400 more of them in the sixties and seventies), where I visited my maternal grandparents. I'm thankful for the area between Mts Hood, Adams, and St. Helens, where I thought I was going to die from hypothermia/low blood sugar after an 18 mile hike, mostly downhill. I'm thankful for Yellowstone and Jackson Hole and the view from the top of the tram at Teton Village and Jenny Lake. Though it's not eaxactly wilderness, I'm thankful for the two trips across Iowa on RAGBRAI. If you squint from close to the ground all that corn can look like a forest. Most of all, I'm thankful for the friendships that brought me to these places, and all the people I've met along the way. Namaste.

growing up I have memories of Sequoia/Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. I felt blessed to share Yosemite with my children and wife this summer. We have made memories of our own by visiting Glacier 2 summers in a row -- much wildlife including "33 mountain goats". We also have visited Rocky Mt NP several times, Yellowstone, Dinosaur NP and the Smoky Mts. I am thankful for all of these places, the beautiful scenery, the majestic wildlife and the opportunities for memories for me of both older and younger generations. I am especially thankful this summer that when we visited Yosemite we did so in a 3 generation trip including both sets of my children's grandparents.

Growing up in the asphalt jungle of New York I am extremely grateful for Gateway National Recreation Area. For years I have taken my classes of inner city adolescents overnight camping at Floyd Bennett Field in believe it or not Brooklyn, New York!!! If it wasn't for Gateway, these students would never have had the opportunity to camp out, go seinning in Jamaica Bay,see horseshoe crabs coming on the beach to mate, have a campfire, and go for a midnight walk in the park. An additional personal benefit was meeting my wife at the teacher training course. My students enjoy walking along the Gateway- Blumb Beach area, and observing the wildlife there. They now know that when we visit parks, we leave no trace. We take only pictures and leave only footprints! Actually thats not true, as we always leave an area cleaner than we find it, and take whatever debri we see out of the park with us. We have done numerous beach cleanups at this area. Finally, I cannot forget the Gateway- Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.My son and I went for a walk there last week. Absolutely beautiful all year round .

I love the State of Alaska and I spent a semester teaching at the University of Alaska in Kodiak and I want to go back and visit more places in Alaska soon! My passion is to write histories about the the large wild animals in Alaska, of the wildreness as well as of the ocean.
Sincerely,
Walter & Elizabeth
1611 N. Wright Rd.
Janesville, WI 53546

I'm thankful for all wild spaces and places all over the world.

I love all the state and national parks!! But I also love all the small, little places found all over this state, especially the ones with our Redwoods and sequoias!!!! We need to protect ALL of our Redwoods and Sequoias all over the state. And I dearly love Yellowstone National Park where the deer and the buffalo play , if the park rangers don't haze them out and kill them, or kill them in the park!!!!! And of course there is the BLM and the corrupt Mr. Salazar who have to be followed and watched, because they and he are a part of the biggest nature-killers on the continent - - - - oh, didn't you all know that Salazar and his minions were a part of the problem that let to the BP oil cataclysm that is still endangering this nation and this world??????? WELL, THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thankful for generally every wild place and landscape this country has been blessed with. I love being able to step out my door and see birds and trees. I love being able to drive just a few hours in almost any direction and get to a place where I can be totally free to explore and feel at peace with nature.

About 15 miles north of Canon City in Colorado is the most beautiful and obscure park called, "Red Canyon." It's so much more pristine than Garden of the Gods and the red rock formations are one hundred times better. I used to spend my weekends at the Valley of Fire, near Las Vegas just marvelling at the scenerey, but now I'm back in Colorado and the Valley of Fire doesn't even compare. I'm grateful nobody knows about the place. It's nice to be able to see Elk wandering about, unimpeded by traffic. We can let our little dog run loose down the path because it's almost entirely closed in by the rocks. Absolutely the most peaceful and beautiful place I have ever seen.

We live in Vermont and own a small cottage that sits on two acres of one of Earth's most beautiful and bountiful places . It is nestled beside a charming little brook I like to call 'the Stream of Well-being', or, after many days of hard rain, 'the River of Infinite Possibilities'! This is our 2 year old grandson's playground. Imagine the hours of skipping stones and climbing rocks and navigating the trickling 'torrents of water'!
The old and gnarled apple trees still blossom, and in the autumn, bow heavy with their harvest of wild apples. In the spring, one is intoxicated with the scent of lilacs and mock orange trees. Rhododendrons, blueberries, ferns and hydrangeas, cover this small part of Eden's Garden.
All is ablaze with Indian Paintbrush, buttercups, phlox, daffodils and the Queen Anne's lace. An undergrowth of violets, wild strawberries, moss and myrtle all give way to the precious dandelion, who many have mislabeled 'a weed'.
We encourage 'the Milkweed Garden' and in turn are rewarded every year, with the return of the Monarch Butterfly. Finding the Monarch's chrysalis is akin to finding a precious jewel and seeing it, is to behold a priceless work of art.
Maybe 'The Butterfly Effect' is to bring a smile to the face of one who watches the colorful array of butterflies, fluttering and flitting amongst the flowers. I've heard it said "A smile can light up the world".
The buzzing of bees gathering pollen and nectar, is happy music to the ears. They sing their song of praise and are joined by a chorus of crickets and birds and the brook. We have all watched in awe the beating of the hummingbird's wings, the seemingly erractic flight of the dragonflies, and on warm summer evenings have joined in the magical dance of the fireflies.
Mice and mole, snake and mosquito, all vie for attention. All are recognized and deserve mention.
And who could forget the entrance to One's day, by having your breath taken away on seeing the dewdrops, sparkling like diamonds, against a newly risen sun? Or discovering the spiders' magnificent homes, lit up by sunlight and the morning dew, webbing throughout, on trees and flowers and grasses?
It was asked "which wild place are you grateful for?" and though I could write about so many awesome, wild places we have traveled to, I have written about our own back yard. Our Heaven on Earth. She is our perfect Teacher, forever giving, a part of our cherished Mother planet and we are privileged and humbled to call her 'Home'.

When my spirit cries for peace I go to a river, the Grand Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument or when I'm really lucky the Tibetan Plateau. We are so lucky to have vast and wild places left in this world. Thank you all for continuing to work to protect them.

I'm thankful to live in a city with this much forest in it. Decades ago, Austin set aside stripes of woodland in the city for conservation. It was what they called the Five Minute Plan: every home in Austin would be just minutes away from a patch of nature. The highway may be audible, but it's wonderful to be so immersed in the woods.

The most beautiful and wild place for me was right in my own backyard (almost). The Alleghany National Forest in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

I am thankful for many places, such as Salt Fork State Park in Ohio, the National Seashore and many other lands that are on Cape Cod, Ma, and the beaches & lands of RI.

I'm thankful for the Indiana Dunes state and federal parks. The dunes are a wonder to behold and hold onto.

Anywhere on Lake Superior that has been preserved always leaves me in awe but the best places are those I've never been and may never be. It is enough to know there are still wild places where we can discover something new, no matter how small the feature may be. There are no more mountain ranges or large valleys to discover. What we have left are the small places where we can stand in awe and wonder.

Because we don't have many wild places left, and especially because we don't have the experience of "wild" as part of our conciousness, I am grateful that it still exists, albeit in smaller and smaller places. That there are animals and living things that can still be one with their environment, even if they are not seen or still unknown to us, that gives me hope. Like the deepest part of our hearts, still free and still to be discovered, those wild places live on and with them our "dreams" of the humans we once were. I am grateful that I have 15 pristine acres with old trees, a wildlife pond, wild animals and insects, that have been untouched for over 70 years- it will be my sanctuary.

My favourite wildlife locations are the Hiawatha National Forest and the Birch Forest of northern Michigan. It is a place that brings incredible peace. I will never forget walking on one of the trails, over a noll and down into a valley. I was surrounded by the most incredible ferns, the sun pouring through their leaves gave them the most wonderful vibrant green, like an emerald forest. It was truly breath taking.

I have been to more than a dozen national parks and they are all great. I hope to see more of them when I move to the Northwest. However, these beautiful places are more than just beautiful. They are a reminder of the huge potential of a planet that is made for life. As Henry David Thoreau said, "In wilderness is the preservation of the world." And that is not just a nice saying -- it is the truth.

I think sometimes we forget that nature is a part of us and it's everywhere! Granted, there are some special places not touched by man (how few they are). But nature is something that we can't EVER escape. The way we live isn't natural for us as humans, and despite the fact that we can't go back 100,000 years (depending on your culture of course) and live in the wild. But we can appreciate the nature and beauty around us and in us! The western world is always trying to kill or vilify the wilderness of humanity, but it's a fact we can't escape. So maybe we should appreciate it a little more, because nature can get along without us, but we can't get along without it. Environmentalism isn't just some grass roots, hippie-like movement, but rather its a realization that humanity is nature and we can combine progress and technology with our human roots and nature. :)

Thanks for sharing those wonder-filled experiences in Alaska with us. I felt like I was there. Thanks for all you do.
I have a special affinity for the wild places of Acadia National Park in Maine and for preservation of the Florida Everglades.

Without the wild places on this earth for us to escape to and get away from this madding crowd we now live in we would both have been carted away a long time ago. Just to stand in the silence of a Death Valley sand dune at twilight in the morning and feel the warm desert air brushing up against your skin drains madness away and instantly rejuvenates the battered soul. We all have our special places at one time or another in our lives be they deserts, mountains, forests or arctic tundra, and to watch them disappear or be threatened by bill boards, mining, drilling, noise, pollution or what have you is to experience a piece of our soul disappearing forever. This is a lovely planet, we have traveled everywhere on it...for God's sake let us take loving care of it and surrender our love for it to our children when we finally shuffle off and call it a day.

I've only been there once, but Yellowstone has had a lasting effect on me due to how connected I feel to the wildlife and landscape there. I am awe-struck by the landscape and how it feels like going back in time to be there.
Cape Cod National Seashore as well as the White Mountains of New Hampshire have both been the basis of my work and where home is and they both remain places of growth, power and connection for me.
I feel grateful that I live in a country where the landscape and its wildlife are celebrated in this way. And I have hope that even when other issues may seem more important on the surfce, the natural world and all its parts continue to be protected as the keys to our common heritage as Americans that they are.

It is hard for me to name just one place, there are so many I have visited which are special to me. What I can say is after being out of the country for almost a year now is how much I appreciate the fact that the U.S. has such an abundance of wild places, and the pride it brings me to be able to tell others what a truly fantastic piece of the earth we all call home!

Add these two and you will see why we are Thankful as an organization. I have one special place in The Rattlesnake Wilderness. It is the concept and the work of The Wilderness Society That we all must be Thankful for.

All 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks!

We all should be grateful for Theodore Roosevelt. Without his Foresight, Courage and Determination we would have no National Monuments, Parks or Wildlife Refuge to ENJOY AND PROTECT!
t.

I am thankful that I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. The active volcano Kilauea puts on a nightly show so everyone sees the awesome power of nature. The North Kohala coast, the Hamakua coast with it's 1000ft waterfalls...the black sand beaches..Kona sunsets...but most of all I am thankful to be in a place with a diverse culture. We have come from differents parts of the world to share in the Hawaiian aloha spirit. I am thankful for the laughter, music, and the great grinds. Peace to all.

Every other year, we visit Washington State. Ruby Beach, with it's wonderous tide pools is my favorite place.

I am thankful for the wonderful wilderness areas in New England. Most people think of this region as just one big urban area, but northern New England is a world apart from the cities. In the mountains of Vermont, the Breadloaf Wilderness Area in Green Mountain National Forest is my favorite because it is big, rugged, and not for everyone. For those with weaker constitutions, Green Mountain National Forest also has the Lye Brook Wilderness Area, Big Branch Wilderness Area, Peru Peak Wilderness Area, Joseph Battell Wilderness Area, Glastonbury Wilderness Area, George Aiken Wilderness Area, and White Rocks National Recreation Area.
New Hampshire and Maine have great wilderness areas also, but I’ll let someone from those states speak about their mountains, forests, and wildlife. All three states have magical places that epitomize the great northern forest in all of its grandeur.

I am thankful to have a country of freedoms to have the ability to fight for our rights and the rights of our land and animals. God Bless to all that give and work for that freedom and the workers that keep the fight going, so it is better for all!

I also live in Colorado and am thankful for ALL the beautiful land. The Maroon Bells are my all-time favorite, closely followed by Rocky Mtn. National Park. There is too much wonderful areas on the western slope to even begin mentioning them all. The sand dunes national park near Alamosa is also special.

I am thankful for all the wild places here in Colorado. Our State Parks, undeveloped lands both flat and at 12,000 feet. I am thankful for all of the clear waters above timberline. I am thankful for all of the wildlife our state gets to enjoy. And thank-you to the Wilderness Society for all that you do to help keep our beautiful 50 beautiful!

My boyhood memories are of Pennsylvania and the NY Adirondacks, so they will always be special to me, even though they are comparatively tame. But they are forests, and there live wild creatures. All creatures, great and small.
The Chukchi Sea, and ANWR - these are unbearably magnificent. I confess I have not visited them yet, and probably can not do so anymore. But much as other mystical places and events can be held very dear to us, so can these mystical places. My experiences with other wild areas helps me feel their wonder. Photographs and video heighten those feelings of Awe.
Magnificent in their own way are the Rainforests. The abundance - the richness - of the wild creatures and their incredible beauty - beauty in the sloth, even, as well as in the jaguar.
Not to be outdone, the Deserts of the Earth, and the African plains.
With some very mixed feeling I try to write this. But human words - just can't seem to make it.
The Wilderness - our Nature - only can be lived, finally. We can live it only as but the small part we really are, in a vastness of life we cannot understand in any other way.
I am thankful we can share our Nature with the wonderful, free creatures of the wilderness.