Past Year's Achievements
These are very challenging times for conservationists, with both Congress and the president pushing for more development across some of Americans’ most cherished landscapes. Even so, since last fall’s edition of this annual magazine, the support provided by members of The Wilderness Society, along with the capable work of our many allies, has helped produce a number of significant achievements.
Wildlife Refuges: We helped mobilize support that, as of press time, had blocked efforts to authorize oil drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s fabled coastal plain…. We helped convince Congress to provide funds to protect lands in Colorado’s White River National Forest and in the San Luis Valley, site of a new national wildlife refuge…. We were leaders in blocking a back-door attempt to rush through a land exchange that would have facilitated oil and gas drilling at Alaska’s Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge.
Wilderness: Congress created 786,000 acres of new wilderness areas in Lincoln County, north of Las Vegas…. The 33,500-acre Gaylord A. Nelson Wilderness Area was created at Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, along Lake Superior…. After a two-year debate, federal land managers agreed to increase protection of potential wilderness areas in Arizona’s five national monuments.
Forests: We won our appeal of the long-term plan for Tongass National Forest in Alaska, filed with five sister organizations. The plan called for excessive logging, especially in roadless areas, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sent it back to the U.S. district court for a determination of how to proceed while the Forest Service redoes the plan…. Despite a relentless, five-year campaign by the administration to eliminate protection of roadless areas in our national forests, so far no commercial logging or road building has occurred on those lands…. Working with our partners, we convinced Congress to restore funding to help local authorities respond to wildfires.
Off-Road Vehicles: After more than two years of effort with a broad coalition, we convinced Idaho to scrap plans for a 460-mile off-road vehicle route through the Lost River and Pahsimeroi Valleys…. A federal judge upheld a plan we supported that will limit swamp buggy use in order to protect the Florida panther and stop damage to Big Cypress National Preserve in the Everglades.
Oil and Gas Drilling: We helped derail a plan to allow oil and gas leasing in 175,000 acres of Bridger-Teton National Forest near Yellowstone…. The federal government agreed to back away from a plan to allow oil and gas drilling along a portion of the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana.
Other Victories:
- We led a national campaign that brought strategic national and congressional attention to the plight of the National Landscape Conservation System, and in doing so helped our allies at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management fight off administration efforts to dramatically reduce funding for the 26 million acres in this system….
- We were able to find documents that blocked the state of Utah’s effort to claim an R.S. 2477 highway through Utah’s west desert and possibly develop it, and we now have blunted the Bush administration’s campaign to proclaim highways across public lands for two years….
- Our coalition persuaded Maryland’s governor, who had been intent on selling state conservation lands to developers, to back a constitutional amendment requiring legislative oversight of state land sales.…
- We played a leading role last summer in turning back an attempt by the U.S. House of Representatives to zero-out the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which protects special places threatened by development.
- Over the past year, we also helped to secure LWCF appropriations to add ecologically important acreage to Mount Rainier National Park (Washington), Six Rivers National Forest (California), Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (New Jersey), Big Thicket National Preserve (Texas), and scores of other public areas.
