One of our biggest priorities at The Wilderness Society this fall is pressing Congress to pass more than 20 wilderness and wildlands bills that await action before a new Congress is sworn in next year.

These new wildlands protections will ensure that amazing iconic American lands in 12 different states are forever preserved, but one challenge in ensuring their passage is dispelling the all too common misperception that wilderness protection locks up resources.

Within the United States, thousands of acres of forests are in various stages of degradation. These forests need restoration work, such as projects that thin thick, overgrown forests to restore their natural fire cycles. But, when so many degraded forest lands exist, land managers, with limited resources and funding, need a way to prioritize restoration projects. This is where Wilderness Society forest ecologists come in. Recently, our ecologists developed a tool that helps identify areas for restoration at the forest, district and watershed level.

Climate change may cause Alaska’s growing season to become about 80 percent drier by mid century, causing profound effects on wildlife, vegetation and human communities, according to new research conducted by our climate change analyst Brendan O’Brien, and ecologist Wendy Loya.

By the end of the century — or 2094 according to our estimates — that same growing season may become a whopping 200 percent drier in a state already impacted by climate change.

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.

Listen to ecologist Dr. Tom DeLuca talk about his research trips to the remote area of northern Sweden and you’ll be treated to an ecological mystery story.

Birch forests once filled an open valley in the mountains between Sweden and Norway just north of the Arctic Circle, but sometime around 1000 years ago the trees disappeared.

All that remains today is an open vista and the collapse of an ecosystem, says Dr. Tom DeLuca Senior Forest Ecologist with The Wilderness Society.