Wilderness Heroes

I am here today because I think it's important that you know that people like me exist in the Portland metro area and people like me value roadless and wilderness areas. As you can plainly see, I am a woman - but the obvious stops there. I am also a Republican who has voted in every single election I was eligible to vote in since I was 18 yrs old. I also hunt and fish - I own two birddogs, three shotguns and six fly rods, know how to use them, and use them on a regular basis. I can put food on my family's table without going near a grocery store. And I know that the best hunting and fishing opportunities are located in roadless and wilderness areas.

"I am done with great things and big plans, great institutions and
big success. I am for those tiny, invisible loving human forces that
work from individual to individual, creeping through the crannies of
the world like so many rootlets. Or like the capillary oozing of water,
which, if given time, will rend the hardest monuments of pride." These
words of philosopher William James had a special meaning for Rich
Gordon, who passed away October 28 after a long and courageous battle
with cancer.

An avid outdoorsman with a taste for politics, Rich had recently traded

All I can say is climbing the corporate ladder gave me no peace, and these days I stick to the peaceful climb up a mountain," Pamela White, 2003.

Pamela White always had a love of America's wild lands, and she ultimately put her passion to work in 2003 when she went to work for Friends of Nevada Wilderness in Ely, NV. There, she was the rural organizer and leader for a Nevada Wilderness Coalition effort to protect the last remaining wild lands in White Pine County as wilderness.

Family and childhood experiences shape our lives. Matt Bullard points to his upbringing in the commercial fishing town of New Bedford, MA, going door to door campaigning with his father, the mayor of their town, and sailing out on the open ocean as the things that instilled in him a love of the great outdoors, a respect for those who make their living off the land, and an appreciation for the political process. Those are the same qualities that make Matt Bullard such an outstanding advocate for Idaho's breathtaking wild lands.

If you need something done, ask a busy person.
- Proverb

"For the president to call for oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge is like
burning the furniture in the White House to keep the first family comfortable."
-- Gaylord Nelson

Steve Hinchliffe's mission in life and in business is well illustrated by a quote from Helen Keller, featured on the homepage of his Bennington, VT business, Nature's Closet: "I am only one person, and just because I cannot do everything, does not mean I will refuse to do that which I can."

Whether Steve is focused on raising the image of his community as a great outdoor destination, running a successful business, enjoying a wilderness adventure, or working to protect wild places in Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest, Steve gives i

What a life! Press secretary to a governor, track announcer for NASCAR races ("before NASCAR was cool"), outdoor columnist, host of a radio outdoor show, then a television show that has won more awards than any other. It is the life lived by Tony Dean of Pierre, South Dakota.

Imagine walking out your front door into a breathtakingly beautiful, fairytale-like forest of emerald ferns, vibrant green mosses, brilliant rhododendrons, and rare red spruce trees. Some would call it "heaven." Beth Little calls it home.

In the 1970s, Beth's life was very different. She was working in Los Angeles as a systems engineer for IBM. It was a hectic, fast-paced lifestyle, and she wanted a change. Beth and her family traveled around the United States and Canada, looking for a place to settle.

Roberta “Birdie” Stabel is a true lover of nature and a dedicated
champion of wilderness for the Tumacacori Highlands. An avid hiker and
horseback rider, Birdie resides just three miles from the Tumacacori
Highlands – an area proposed for wilderness designation -- and has
lived in the region for 30 years. “It’s my backyard, the first thing I
see in the morning,” she says. “It’s an extremely important part of my
life.”

Birdie has certainly taken advantage of the wide array of
opportunities that living in the Tumacacori region provides her.