Halfway through the year, with Congress in recess for August, it seems a good point to take stock of where we are in accomplishing our mutual goal: passing along to subsequent generations a lasting legacy of wild land.

The House of Representatives has adopted the Wild Sky Wilderness Act for 106,000 acres, and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee reported it favorably, so that bill awaits floor action there. Meanwhile, the same committee recently approved the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act for 128,000 acres of protected wild land in Oregon. Similarly, the House Natural Resources Committee has reported out the Virginia Ridge and Valley Act for 55,000 acres, which could see floor action this fall.

Of bills already introduced, such as Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act, which permanently protects 320,000 acres in the Boulder-White Clouds, and the Owyhee Initiative Implementation Act, to safeguard 517,000 acres as wilderness, some will see committee work done in September. Two more bills will likely be introduced this week, for wilderness in Arizona and California, which brings to nine the number of bills together we are working to enact in this new Congress.

The welcome pace of activity is all because of people like you. Keep it up!