The Wilderness Society (United States)

Last updated • 11 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
The Wilderness Society
FormationApril 30, 1937;87 years ago (1937-04-30) [1]
Founders Bob Marshall, Benton MacKaye, Aldo Leopold, Bernard Frank, Robert Sterling Yard, Harvey Broome
53-0167933 [2]
Legal status 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization [2]
Headquarters1801 Pennsylvania Ave NW, 2nd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20006, U.S.
Coordinates 38°54′21″N77°02′14″W / 38.905927°N 77.037329°W / 38.905927; -77.037329
Membership
1+ million [3]
Jamie Williams [4]
Executive Vice President
David Seabrook
Chief of Staff
Elvis Cordova
Subsidiaries The Wilderness Society Action Fund (501(c)(4)) [5]
Revenue (2017)
$30,081,869 [5]
Expenses (2017)$31,030,390 [5]
Endowment $19,919,430 (2017) [5]
Employees (2016)
165 [5]
Volunteers (2016)
125 [5]
Website www.wilderness.org

The Wilderness Society is an American non-profit land conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting natural areas and federal public lands in the United States. They advocate for the designation of federal wilderness areas and other protective designations, such as for national monuments. They support balanced uses of public lands, and advocate for federal politicians to enact various land conservation and balanced land use proposals. The Wilderness Society also engages in a number of ancillary activities, including education and outreach, and hosts one of the most valuable collections of Ansel Adams photographs at their headquarters in Washington, D.C. [6]

Contents

The Wilderness Society specializes in issues involving lands under the management of federal agencies; such lands include national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and areas overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. In the early 21st century, the society has been active in fighting recent political efforts to reduce protection for America's roadless and undeveloped lands and wildlife. [7]

The organization was instrumental in the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act. [8] The Wilderness Act led to the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects 109 million acres of U.S. public wildlands. [9]

Founding

The Wilderness Society was incorporated on April 30, 1937, [1] by a group of eight men who would later become some of the 20th century's most prominent conservationists.

Founders of The Wilderness Society

Founders at Old Rag Mountain, VA in 1946 Founders of the Wilderness Society (5442276308).jpg
Founders at Old Rag Mountain, VA in 1946

Yard became the Society's first secretary and the editor of its magazine, The Living Wilderness. Marshall, who was independently wealthy, made donations to finance the new organization. In addition, he set up a trust through his estate to provide future revenues to the Society. After he died in 1939 at age 38, The Wilderness Society began to receive such revenues. [10]

Notable associates of The Wilderness Society

Leopold and Murie in 1946 Leopold-Murie.jpg
Leopold and Murie in 1946

Achievements

The Wilderness Act of 1964

The Wilderness Act is considered one of America's bedrock conservation laws and was written by The Wilderness Society's former Executive Director Howard Zahniser. [16] Passed by Congress in 1964, the Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which now protects nearly 110 million acres of designated wilderness areas throughout the United States. [17] Among the first wilderness areas created by the act were: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota; Bridger Wilderness, Wyoming; Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana; and Ansel Adams Wilderness, California.

In The Wilderness Act, Zahniser defines the word wilderness as "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain". [18] This word choice is important because it implies that the areas deemed wilderness would be "unconfined, uncontrolled, unrestrained, or unmaipulated [by humans]." [18] By clearly defining the word, The Wilderness Act provided a guideline for how to determine what exactly wilderness is and how it is to be treated. Maybe controversially, under this definition, The Wilderness Act permits natural disasters, like forest fires, to ensue naturally. Only in the event that the fire is going to spread out of the boundary of the wilderness, then the act allows it to be controlled. [18] This idea of letting nature take its course also includes prohibiting beneficial manipulation of the wilderness, such as restocking a lake full of a struggling fish species. [18] This again is a direct implication of how the word wilderness was defined.

More than 109 million acres designated as wilderness

The Wilderness Society has campaigned for the passage of wilderness bills as a means to permanently protect significant and unspoiled wildlands in the United States. Since the passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964, the National Wilderness Preservation System has grown to more than 109 million acres.

Passage of conservation laws

Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams (seated) at an event celebrating 50 years of wilderness, 2014 Celebrating 50 years of wilderness (15147425581).jpg
Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams (seated) at an event celebrating 50 years of wilderness, 2014

One of The Wilderness Society's specialties is creating coalitions consisting of environmental groups, as well as representatives of sportsmen, ranchers, scientists, business owners, and others. It states that it bases its work in science and economic analysis, [19] often enabling conservationists to strengthen the case for land protection by documenting potential scientific and economic dividends.

The Wilderness Society played a major role in passage of the following bills:

Significant accomplishments of The Wilderness Society

Ute Mountain and upper Rio Grande gorge Ute Mountain and upper Rio Grande gorge.jpg
Ute Mountain and upper Rio Grande gorge

Issues and campaigns

William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society, speaks at a National Press Club event on the future of America's public lands, 2011 William H. Meadows (5367134057).jpg
William H. Meadows, president of The Wilderness Society, speaks at a National Press Club event on the future of America's public lands, 2011

Automobiles

The development of the automobile allowed an abundance of the American population to travel to barren locations of nature. Modern appreciation of nature has turned into an interaction with consumerism rather than visiting raw, untouched patches of nature. With the development of automobiles came the building of roads and recreational development. The Wilderness society advocated against the construction taking place in rural areas of nature. They wanted nature to be preserved and untouched for its natural beauty and the creatures that inhabit it. [22]

Expanding protections for public wildlands

The Wilderness Society mobilizes public support for legislation that protects public lands through protective wildlands designations. This includes adding new wilderness areas and national monuments into U.S. public lands systems.

Wilderness Designation

The Wilderness Society supports legislation that protects unspoiled public lands as designated "Wilderness". A wilderness designation is the highest form of protection the government can give to any public land. Under The Wilderness Act, designated wilderness areas are protected, permanently, from new development, commercial activities, and motorized vehicles. [23]

As of 2016, the wilderness system contained more than 109 million acres of protected wilderness lands. This system includes more than 750 wilderness areas in all 50 states. The Wilderness Society says it has played a part in most additions to the National Wilderness Preservation System. Recent wilderness additions include:

National monuments designation

The Wilderness Society works with local communities to advance efforts that protect unique historical sites, cultural areas and wildlands as national monuments. In recent years, the organization supported numerous monument designations under President Barack Obama, including:

Recently, the organization has come to the defense of the Antiquities Act, [30] which has come under attack by factions in Congress. The Antiquities Act is the mechanism by which the president of the United States can designate new national monuments.

Views on logging and mining

Coal mine in California Maramarua Open Cast Coal Mine, 1966.jpg
Coal mine in California

The Wilderness Society has throughout its history sought to reduce logging and mining on public lands. [31]

Views on geothermal energy

Geothermal power plant in Nesjavellir, Iceland NesjavellirPowerPlant edit2.jpg
Geothermal power plant in Nesjavellir, Iceland

The Wilderness Society has supported a shift towards greater geothermal energy but has criticized specific geothermal energy projects, arguing that the energy generation risks the quality of air and water, as well as access to public lands. [32]

Public land production

The Wilderness Society has worked with the United States Forest Service (USFS) to come up with goals on the issue of public land production:

"1. To obtain as much wilderness value as possible relative to the cost and value of the foregone opportunities to produce other goods and services for society.

2. To disperse the future wilderness system as widely as possible over the United States.

3. To represent as many ecosystems as possible so that the scientific and educational purposes of wilderness preservation are best served.

4. To obtain the most wilderness value with the least relative impact on the nation's wood production output.

5. To locate some new wilderness areas closer to densely populated areas so that more people can directly enjoy their benefits." [33]

These goals and their complexity demonstrate the progress that has been made in just over half a century of The Wilderness Society. In 1964, there were 9 million acres of federal wild land, but now The Wilderness Society has such lofty goals and much more extensive wilderness areas, demonstrating its success over the years. [33]

Arches National Park USA 10439 Arches National Park Luca Galuzzi 2007.jpg
Arches National Park

Awards

Ansel Adams Wilderness sign on the Rush Creek Trail Ansel Adams Wilderness sign Rush Creek.jpg
Ansel Adams Wilderness sign on the Rush Creek Trail

The Wilderness Society makes several annual awards.

The Ansel Adams Award

Named for photographer and conservationist Ansel Adams, the Ansel Adams Award awarded to a current or former federal official who has been a strong advocate of conservation.

Renowned landscape photographer Ansel Adams was deeply involved with The Wilderness Society. Before his death in 1984, Adams selected 75 images as a gift to the organization. The national headquarters building in Washington, D.C., houses the Ansel Adams Collection of the original, signed Ansel Adams photographs. The collection was open to the public at 1615 M St., NW. [34] Since the organization has moved, the gallery is now permanently closed.

The Robert Marshall Award

The Society's most prestigious award is named in honor its principal founder, Robert Marshall. It is given to private individuals who have had notable influence upon conservation. It was first awarded in 1981 to Sigurd F. Olson, who wrote about conservation and influenced decision makers and the public.

Notable Robert Marshall Award recipients: [35]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

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Further reading