The California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act strives to protect more than 40,000 acres in the Joshua Tree National Park, among other key wilderness areas.
Sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, the legislation passed in the U.S. House on June 9. Now, we want to ensure the Senate version of the law, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Rancho Mirage Democrat, makes its way through the Senate when Congress reconvenes after the Republican convention.
After a lengthy, tortuous process, Idaho and the federal government have negotiated an agreement that revisits Clinton-era conservation rules for national forestlands in the heavily timbered state.
The result is a homegrown plan, which might be the key to success, and may also provide a template for other states.
The week of Sept. 7 is Wilderness Week. It is a time to celebrate the Wilderness Act of 1964, the lands already forever protected under the Act, and the ongoing efforts to save the best of our remaining wild and most natural places.
And some of those remaining wild areas are in the Allegheny National Forest.
Friends of Allegheny Wilderness and its supporters from throughout the region and across the state are leading a campaign for Congressional wilderness designation of an additional eight tracts totaling 54,460 acres in the ANF.
Its past time for Oregon's delegation in Congress to secure
wilderness designation for more of this state's treasures
Kudos to members of Washington state's congressional delegation for working effectively together to establish the Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle.
Their coordinated push won approval for the bill in Congress last April, and President Bush signed it into law in May. It confers the government's highest level of protection to 106,000 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
South toward the Virgin Mountains, east from Lake Mead to the Arizona line lies one of Nevada's most exquisite treasures, a bounty of natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities spread across more than 300,000 acres of our public lands. This landscape is rich in wildlife and botanical interest, and in cultural values tracing Native American use and our pioneer heritage.
This is Gold Butte. Many of us think this is a treasure well worth conserving more securely.
An ad hoc group, known as the North Dakota Wilderness Coalition, has put together a sensible and modest proposal to designate some 68,000 acres of public lands in North Dakota as permanent wilderness.
It's a purely wonderful idea whose time has come. If we don't act now, it's an idea whose time will be soon be gone forever. As far as I can determine, there is no rational reason to oppose the proposal. Nobody's ox is gored.
Come and get it: Washington's newest wilderness area, Wild Sky, is as pretty as it gets - and has something to offer just about everybody...
About Wild Sky Wilderness area
WHAT: 106,577 acres of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the Cascade mountains. Unlike most other wilderness areas in Washington, Wild Sky includes low-elevation forests.
WHERE: North of Index and Skykomish, along Highway 2. Flanks, but does not include, the Beckler River and North Fork of the Skykomish River. Adjoins the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness on the east and northeast.
Deep in the Rio Grande National Forest • In these mountains lies one of Colorado's rarest gems, a place of majesty and wonder, yet free of the crowds that swarm around so many of the state's beautiful places.
After three hours of walking, it seemed, we were no closer to finding it.
We'd set off around 11 a.m. on a recent Saturday in search of Wheeler Geologic Area, a remote place renowned for its bizarre and beautiful rock formations, which are said to rival Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park as amazing examples of how time and erosion can affect a landscape.
Standing on the summit of 10,824 foot ‘Big Sammy' we are at the highest viewpoint accessible by trail in the Emigrant Wilderness and the 360 degree panorama of mountains, meadows and lakes has made the rugged six mile path from Leavitt Lake worth the trek. Stretched out below us is the Emigrant Basin, a bright blanket of blues, yellows and greens shining in the summer sun. It was a welcoming site after climbing the steep desolate slopes of Leavitt Lake Pass and Big Sam, the two mountains in the north responsible for guarding this magnificent Garden of Eden.
Advocates for wilderness designation for some of North Dakota's most remote unspoiled lands have come up with a thoughtful and balanced proposal. Indeed, it might be too modest, too timid. The plan from the North Dakota Wilderness Coalition should be examined by the governor and congressional delegation with the ultimate goal of setting aside as wilderness 62,300 acres of the state's western national grasslands and another 5,410 acres in the Sheyenne grasslands in the southeast.
EDITORIAL: The Senate should act to help protect the desert wilderness
September 4th, 2008The California Desert and Mountain Heritage Act strives to protect more than 40,000 acres in the Joshua Tree National Park, among other key wilderness areas.
Sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, the legislation passed in the U.S. House on June 9. Now, we want to ensure the Senate version of the law, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Rancho Mirage Democrat, makes its way through the Senate when Congress reconvenes after the Republican convention.
EDITORIAL: Idaho salvages roadless policy
September 3rd, 2008After a lengthy, tortuous process, Idaho and the federal government have negotiated an agreement that revisits Clinton-era conservation rules for national forestlands in the heavily timbered state.
The result is a homegrown plan, which might be the key to success, and may also provide a template for other states.
OPINION: Friends of Allegheny Wilderness
September 4th, 2008The week of Sept. 7 is Wilderness Week. It is a time to celebrate the Wilderness Act of 1964, the lands already forever protected under the Act, and the ongoing efforts to save the best of our remaining wild and most natural places.
And some of those remaining wild areas are in the Allegheny National Forest.
Friends of Allegheny Wilderness and its supporters from throughout the region and across the state are leading a campaign for Congressional wilderness designation of an additional eight tracts totaling 54,460 acres in the ANF.
EDITORIAL: Get it done for Mount Hood
September 2nd, 2008Its past time for Oregon's delegation in Congress to secure
wilderness designation for more of this state's treasures
Kudos to members of Washington state's congressional delegation for working effectively together to establish the Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle.
Their coordinated push won approval for the bill in Congress last April, and President Bush signed it into law in May. It confers the government's highest level of protection to 106,000 acres in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
OPINION: Gold Butte: A Treasure We Can Conserve
September 3rd, 2008South toward the Virgin Mountains, east from Lake Mead to the Arizona line lies one of Nevada's most exquisite treasures, a bounty of natural beauty and outdoor recreation opportunities spread across more than 300,000 acres of our public lands. This landscape is rich in wildlife and botanical interest, and in cultural values tracing Native American use and our pioneer heritage.
This is Gold Butte. Many of us think this is a treasure well worth conserving more securely.
OPINION: A modest and extremely important wilderness proposal for North Dakota
August 25th, 2008An ad hoc group, known as the North Dakota Wilderness Coalition, has put together a sensible and modest proposal to designate some 68,000 acres of public lands in North Dakota as permanent wilderness.
It's a purely wonderful idea whose time has come. If we don't act now, it's an idea whose time will be soon be gone forever. As far as I can determine, there is no rational reason to oppose the proposal. Nobody's ox is gored.
Washington's newest wilderness area, wild sky, has something for everyone
August 21st, 2008Come and get it: Washington's newest wilderness area, Wild Sky, is as pretty as it gets - and has something to offer just about everybody...
About Wild Sky Wilderness area
WHAT: 106,577 acres of the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in the Cascade mountains. Unlike most other wilderness areas in Washington, Wild Sky includes low-elevation forests.
WHERE: North of Index and Skykomish, along Highway 2. Flanks, but does not include, the Beckler River and North Fork of the Skykomish River. Adjoins the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness on the east and northeast.
A monument to solitude
August 21st, 2008Deep in the Rio Grande National Forest • In these mountains lies one of Colorado's rarest gems, a place of majesty and wonder, yet free of the crowds that swarm around so many of the state's beautiful places.
After three hours of walking, it seemed, we were no closer to finding it.
We'd set off around 11 a.m. on a recent Saturday in search of Wheeler Geologic Area, a remote place renowned for its bizarre and beautiful rock formations, which are said to rival Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park as amazing examples of how time and erosion can affect a landscape.
Into the Wild: A Journey Into the Heart of the Emigrant Wilderness
August 20th, 2008Standing on the summit of 10,824 foot ‘Big Sammy' we are at the highest viewpoint accessible by trail in the Emigrant Wilderness and the 360 degree panorama of mountains, meadows and lakes has made the rugged six mile path from Leavitt Lake worth the trek. Stretched out below us is the Emigrant Basin, a bright blanket of blues, yellows and greens shining in the summer sun. It was a welcoming site after climbing the steep desolate slopes of Leavitt Lake Pass and Big Sam, the two mountains in the north responsible for guarding this magnificent Garden of Eden.
Editorial:Protect wild land areas in N.D.
August 19th, 2008Advocates for wilderness designation for some of North Dakota's most remote unspoiled lands have come up with a thoughtful and balanced proposal. Indeed, it might be too modest, too timid. The plan from the North Dakota Wilderness Coalition should be examined by the governor and congressional delegation with the ultimate goal of setting aside as wilderness 62,300 acres of the state's western national grasslands and another 5,410 acres in the Sheyenne grasslands in the southeast.