Summer 2007 Newsletter

Summer 2007 Newsletter
Vol. IX, No. 3

Here's the latest edition of The Wilderness Society's member newsletter.

Wilderness is Part of the Global Warming Solution

William H. Meadows

We are at one of those rare moments in history when the context for a policy debate changes dramatically. For the vast majority of Americans, global warming has moved from theory to reality. Read More...

Big Year for Colorado Wilderness?

Colorado is home to 41 wilderness areas, including gems such as Holy Cross, Eagles Nest, and Maroon Bells. We are actively engaged in several campaigns to add to that distinguished line-up, and we believe that two or three of them could be approved by Congress this year. Read More...

Drilling Threatens Alaska's Yukon Flats Wildlife Refuge

Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, in east-central Alaska, harbors one of America’s most valuable duck and waterfowl wetlands nesting areas, with millions of these birds arriving each spring. But the birds face an uncertain future. Read More...

Northwest's Ancient Forests and Wildlife Are Targets

Since 1994, the Northwest Forest Plan has governed management of 24 million acres of public land in Washington, Oregon, and nothern California. This blueprint created forest reserves to limit logging and roadbuilding, and it implemented a program to protect old-growth species and habitat, while balancing these goals with other needs of rural communities. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has embarked on a systematic campaign to weaken this framework. Read More...

Tackling Global Warming on Multiple Fronts

The nation’s forests absorb about 10 percent of the carbon dioxide that the United States produces. There is credible evidence that this percentage could be doubled or tripled if we maintain existing forests and restore those that have been depleted. Read More...

Energy Corridors Threaten Numerous Landscapes

The American people are beginning to learn about some of the ill-conceived features of the major energy bill that Congress passed in 2005. We are working with members of Congress, the Sierra Club, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and other groups to repeal provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 that threaten to carve broad power line corridors through some of the nation’s most scenic and historic landscapes. Read More...

Wilderness Society Member Helping Alaskan Village

If Dr. Ben Hammett had any doubts that the planet is heating up, they vanished as he stood in Shishmaref Island, a 4,000-year-old subsistence community of about 600 Alaskan natives near the Russian border. “It was so convincing,” he says. With sea ice decreasing and permafrost melting, the Chukchi Sea is eroding 10 feet of this island a year Read More...

News From The Field

Read about the issues that The Wilderness Society's regional offices are working on, including offshore drilling in Alaska, protecting New Jersey's Highlands, and helping develop a conservation plan for Montana's Blackfoot River. Read More...