The Wilderness Society is working on a number of issues that have national implications. We also have standing programs that revolve around specific land management agencies and their policies.
Here's a summary of our issues:
Wilderness
America's congressionally designated Wilderness now totals more than 105 million acres, an important legacy, but still only 4.4 percent of the entire U.S., inckuding Alaska. Learn more about Wilderness - its history and current status.
>> More
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a world class wilderness and wildlife habitat. It is also smack in the sights of the oil industry, which is lobbying Congress to open the Refuge to industrial scale oil development.
>> More
Budget and Appropriations
Securing federal funding in Congress is key to protection America's public lands, whether yearly appropriations or longer-term funding needs.
>> More
Eastern Forests
The forests of the eastern United States once stretched almost unbroken from Maine in the North to Mississippi and Florida in the South, covering most of what are now 22 states and the District of Columbia. Today, these beautiful and rich forests, although much changed, continue to bless the region’s people and communities with a myriad of environmental benefits and economic opportunities.
>> More
Energy Development
Sadly, the Bush Administration has allowed the oil industry to begin operations in some of the most fragile and remarkable places in the country, for extremely limited amounts of oil and gas. At the same time, the Administration is seeking to weaken environmental safeguards that protect our public lands from irresponsible and unnecessary damage.
>> More
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Enacted in 1970, NEPA establishes a national policy calling for "productive harmony" between man and nature. The law directs federal agencies to take into account, and publicly disclose, the environmental consequences of their proposed actions. The law has been a success. But now, it faces threats from Congress and the Administration.
>> More
National Monuments
The American people have 21 spectacular new national monuments to explore, most in the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, with management plans being developed for 11 of them.
>> More
Off-Road Vehicles and Public Lands
Americans visiting public lands and waters are encountering more and more off-road vehicles that are pushing deeper into the backcountry, causing pollution and displacing other visitors.
>> More
Highway Robbery
Revised Statute 2477, an obscure provision in the 1866 Mining Law, is being resurrected to promote unrestricted development of our public lands.
>> More
Roadless Area Protection
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, adopted in 2001 after a three-year public process, is the target of Bush Administration efforts seeking to overturn it.
>> More
Wildfire
Our National Forests are under attack by legislators and a White House that are determined to roll back 30 years of forest safeguards, all in the specious name of wildfire prevention. At risk are our national forests, citizen rights, and western communities still at risk of wildfire.
>> More
Bureau of Land Management Lands
The BLM oversees the greatest acreage and most ecologically diverse lands of any federal agency, including most of our newest National Monuments. Yet BLM lands contain the smallest amount of designated Wilderness of all agencies.
>> More
National Forests
America's National Forests are under a furious and unrelenting attack from the Administration, Congress, and industry. Their goal is simple: virtually eliminate public input into forest management decisions, and give extractive industries unfettered access to America's forests.
>> More
National Parks
America's National Parks are among the most beloved of our national lands. They are afforded among the highest protections of any of our national lands, yet many of them are facing serious threats that could impair the ability of future generations to enjoy them.
>> More
National Wildlife Refuges
From wetlands to forests, tundra to deserts, the National Wildlife Refuge System includes more than 93 million acres of the most biologically diverse lands in America. But many of these places originally set aside to protect our wildlife heritage are themselves at risk from oil and gas development, aggressive farming, recreation and other abuses.
>> More
Global Warming
Climate forecasts for the next century suggest possible global temperature increases capable of causing local species extinctions and breaking up long-standing ecological communities. The natural world is always evolving, but global climate change threatens to bring about profound changes.
>> More
