Welcome

Dear WildAlert subscriber,

This inaugural issue of Wilderness Society News, our new monthly e-newsletter, is designed to bring you a variety of wilderness-related news and opportunities for action. Of course, we'll also continue to send you our popular weekly WildAlerts.

Our Nation's wildest unprotected areas are the roadless areas on our national forests. The WildAlert community has been very involved in pushing for these areas to be conserved. In the recent U.S. Forest Service comment period, you all generated over 25,000 comments, the most ever on a single issue.

Thank you for your involvement -- we will keep you updated on the outcome!

-- Bill Meadows, President, The Wilderness Society

Let's face it: Despite the prominence of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the news, few of us will ever actually venture to the farthest reaches of Alaska to visit this immense, biologically-rich sanctuary. So we are offering our readers a special gift this holiday season:

Click here to learn more about the Arctic Refuge and browse John Dunne's Arctic Journey diary and photos.

Photo: Caribou on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Photo courtesy of Ken Whitten.

Take Action:
Missouri Breaks, Grand Canyon & Arctic Refuge

We will continue to win significant victories on behalf of our nation's wild places, but only if your voice continues to be heard loud and clear -- TAKE ACTION TODAY!

Missouri Breaks National Monument: Located in central Montana and dubbed "some of the wildest country on all the Great Plains", the Bureau of Land Management has proposed putting a dozen gas wells in 10,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat, cultural & historic sites, and rugged wildness. Take action to stop them.

Grand Canyon: Do your part to improve the visitor experience on the Colorado River, tell the Park Service to transition out motorboats and better distribute group size.

Arctic Refuge: Senate leaders are already talking about using this year's Federal budget process as a back door to sneak oil rigs into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Tell your Senator this is wrong.

Inside Story:
Newly Protected Wilderness

A reason to celebrate, with two exciting victories coming at a crucial time! Congress has just designated more than 800,000 acres of new wilderness areas in Lincoln Co., Nevada and Apostle Islands, Wisconsin.

Click here for the full story.

Photo: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Courtesy of National Park Service.

Support The Wilderness Society
We're very grateful for your help in protecting our wild places by contacting your elected officials. But for every victory, there are more threatened wild places that need our help.

Your donation will help us continue our campaign to protect the Arctic Refuge while also allowing us to fight less public, but also important campaigns to protect places such as Montana's Missouri Breaks and Colorado's Roan Plateau.

Click here to make your secure online donation today!

A Special Invitation for Our Subscribers
There’s a burst of personnel shuffling underway in the Bush administration’s environment -- related positions -- and throughout the administration as a whole. Ann Veneman is leaving the Department of Agriculture, Spencer Abraham is leaving the Department of Energy, and while EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt and Interior Secretary Gale Norton seem to be staying put for now, rumors abound about where they might be headed in the next couple of years. The question is whether new appointees will herald big policy shifts.

Follow this story and more in Grist Magazine where you’ll find a broad range of environmental stories, reported with humor and irreverence -- just what’s needed to stay informed and still be able to advocate for what’s right Read the latest on these position changes and then sign up for Grist by Email.

Words to Inspire
"Be consistent. Be persistent. Be actively patient. This day is as ripe for realization as any day the world has ever known. I adjure you, sons and daughters of our lineage. This is your day. Go forth. Do good. Tell the stories. And keep it wild."

- Ed Zahniser, Author, The Wilderness Act