On July 15, I attended the America’s Great Outdoors listening session in Asheville, North Carolina. Hundreds of people came from across the region to speak about the conservation issues they care about, including protecting, connecting and restoring our public lands.

The day before the listening session, I wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Mountain Xpress.

On Monday, June 28, the Obama administration will hold a listening session as part of its America’s Great Outdoors initiative in the Longleaf pine region of South Carolina.

This summer, the Obama administration is organizing a series of “listening sessions” on America’s Great Outdoors to hear our best ideas for developing a new conservation strategy for protecting and connecting us to nature.

This feature was first published in the 2009 Wilderness Magazine. To receive the annual magazine and quarterly newsletters from The Wilderness Society, become a member today!

This article linking public lands, wildlife and climate change was written by Doreen Cubie of Awendaw, South Carolina, who also writes for National Wildlife and Audubon.

By Doreen Cubie

For the past several years, there has been an unprecedented rush in applying for permits to lease and drill federal public lands especially in the West. Proponents for drilling use energy independence and economic gain to justify their case. So how much oil and gas is really available under public lands and how much are they worth? Our spatial analysts, economists and ecologists in TWS make it their business to find out.

Coming from Argentina as an intern to The Wilderness Society, I was recently asked this question while getting familiar with the work: Do you know who is in charge of managing most of the federal lands in the United States?