Wilderness

Governor and Attorney General urge Obama Administration to support 9th Circuit Court Decision

Oct. 6, 2009 -- (Salem) – Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Attorney General John Kroger announced today that they sent letters urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue a legal strategy that supports the Clinton-era Roadless Rule to protect pristine wilderness areas.

“The Roadless Rule provides important protections to special places across our country,” Governor Ted Kulongoski said. “I hope we can end this cycle of litigation and implement the Clinton Roadless Rule as originally intended and applied nationwide.”    » read more »

"Merkley supports legislation to preserve the Oregon Caves National Monument and the Devil’s Staircase"

June 22, 2009 -- Washington, DC - Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley has co-sponsored legislation to protect some of Oregon’s most scenic natural areas while helping boost local tourism and increase recreation opportunities. The legislation would expand the protection of the Oregon Caves National Monument and some of Oregon’s ancient old growth forest situated along the Oregon Coast.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, and Representative Harry Teague, today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is releasing $3.6 million from the economic recovery package to reconstruct a road that bisects two wilderness areas in Catron County.

The lawmakers reported that the funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will reconstruct 48 miles of road bisecting the Gila Wilderness and Aldo Leopold Wilderness. The project will improve safety for the visiting public, provide proper drainage of the road and reduce the travel time on the road from four hours to two.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2009 - Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced today that he is signing an interim directive regarding inventoried roadless areas within our National Forests and Grasslands.

"This interim directive will provide consistency and clarity that will help protect our national forests until a long-term roadless policy reflecting President Obama's commitment is developed," said Vilsack.

The directive provides decision-making authority to the Secretary over proposed forest management or road construction projects in inventoried roadless areas.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today that for the next year all decisions regarding road building and tree cutting in the nation's inventoried roadless areas will be made by the Secretary of Agriculture. The USDA will use the year to develop a national long-term roadless policy.

"I believe that this is an important step toward protecting our nation's roadless areas," Colorado Governor Bill Ritter said. "The Obama Administration has repeatedly stated that it is committed to protecting our roadless areas and I applaud this important step toward providing that protection.    » read more »

May 6, 2009 -- (BOISE) – Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter is urging Congress to reject yet another sweeping attempt by singer/activist Carole King and her supporters to lock up about 9 million more acres of Idaho in wilderness – almost tripling the amount of Idaho acreage withdrawn from multiple use.

In a letter to Congressman Nick Rahall of West Virginia, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, and Congressman Doc Hastings of Washington, the committee’s ranking Republican, the Governor called the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) “a radical wilderness bill of unprecedented scale that will have disastrous consequences for Idaho and the West.”    » read more »

Robert Redford and Environmental Groups Support Critical Step in Land Protection

WASHINGTON (February 4, 2009) – More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness will be protected from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior announced today that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush administration. This is among the first actions taken by the Obama administration to protect America’s wild lands. Since December, a coalition of environmental groups – led by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Earthjustice, and the Wilderness Society – have been working to protect these public lands. In December, the coalition filed suit to stop the leasing, and, in January, Judge Ricardo M. Urbina of the U.S.    » read more »

Three New Places Added to BioGems Llist; New Web Site Engages More Than 400,000 Activists

WASHINGTON (February 3, 2009) -- The Natural Resources Defense Council named 13 natural areas and six associated wild species as “BioGems” today. These extraordinary and at-risk places stretch from the Arctic in Alaska to Patagonia in Chile. New to the list of BioGems are the Carrizo Plain National Monument in central California and the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Alberta, Canada, which are imperiled by oil and gas development. For the first time, NRDC has designated a country as a BioGem -- Costa Rica -- which is seeking to become the world’s first carbon-neutral nation.    » read more »

June 17, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today testified before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on National Parks on the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park Wilderness Act, legislation she introduced to protect nearly 115,000 acres of pristine public land within the Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park as wilderness. The bill is cosponsored by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).

Sequoias at Sequoia National Park, California: Photo by Phil (CC)    » read more »

May 23, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced legislation Thursday to protect almost half a million acres of wilderness lands in California. Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA-25), whose congressional districts contain these lands, introduced the companion bill in the House.    » read more »

May 14, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) praised the House Natural Resources Committee for its approval today of two House companion bills to Senate legislation she introduced to protect and conserve more than 300,000 acres of pristine public land in California.

Senator Boxer said, “I am pleased that the House Natural Resources Committee has approved these two measures, which are critical to protecting California’s wilderness.”    » read more »

Wassataquoik Valley And Local Recreation Lands To Change Hands

December 10, 2007 -- Augusta, ME – Maine Governor John Baldacci, Millinocket Town Manager Gene Conlogue, Roxanne Quimby, Commissioner Patrick McGowan and The Trust for Public Land (TPL) today announced an agreement to exchange land and easements in the region east and south of Katahdin Lake. In an historic collaboration, the parties have come together to accomplish the dual goals of wilderness management and lands open to hunting and snowmobiling.    » read more »