"What is it that draws people to The Forest? Do they come to count the rings on the stumps of old growth white pines and marvel at what used to be? I think not. As evidence of human influence grows in the heart of The Forest, it becomes increasingly apparent that if there are not areas set aside to preserve the wilderness characteristics that so many value, we risk destroying the very thing we seek."
- Jim DeLong, Testimony at Allegheny National Forest public hearing, August 21, 2006
As the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act approached in 2004, we hoped to interest National Public Radio in the story of ordinary people saving wilderness. The perfect example would be the once seriously imperiled area at the south end of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, straddling the divide between Idaho and Montana southwest of Missoula.
It was with passion and determination that Ellen and David Drell, of Willits, California brought together a community of volunteers to form the Citizens' Committee to Save Our Public Lands in 1974. More than thirty years later, the two activists continue to use the same sturdy tools, celebrating progress and tackling new concerns. Since the early days of the Committee, David and Ellen have poured their hearts into the protection of unique places in the Mendocino National Forest.
On Tuesday, January 30, Aspen Marchington celebrated her first birthday. She doesn't know it yet, but just a few weeks earlier her dad helped make history. Because of Aspen's father and others like him, on December 9 Congress designated 558,000 acres of protected wilderness in eastern Nevada's White Pine County.
Sadly, we missed the chance to celebrate one of America's greatest wilderness heroes, Karen Fant, before her death last summer at age 57. As you see from her photo, Karen always had a winning smile: winning for wilderness was a central part of her life.
Carl Stonecipher is a dentist. He’s also a member of the Black Hills Sportsmen Club, the former president of the Western South Dakota Chapter of Safari Club International, and a grandfather of five. Carl is a Republican.
Jeff Olson is a dentist. He serves on the board of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation, and was recently honored by Field and Stream as one of 10 annually recognized “Heroes of Conservation.” Jeff is a Democrat.
John Manchester, the mayor of Lewisburg, West Virginia, is what a reporter would call "a great interview." I know, because I interviewed him the other day as we walked through the blazing sugar maples and beech tress in a citizen-proposed wilderness area on the Monongahela National Forest.
Ellen Viereck's love for the natural world started at an early age. "I was born in 1928. When I was three, my mom had a pet squirrel, and I would dig the holes in the ground and he would put his acorns in," Ellen recalls. "So early on I had a connection to nature."
"I really liked the woods, growing up," says Jim Rogers, who was born in western New York to a farming family. "As a kid, I knew all the names of the trees, and I knew I wanted to be a forester, though I didn't know what a forester did."
Jim started making his childhood dream a reality during summers off from Syracuse University when he worked as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana's Kootenai National Forest, and later as a firefighter and forester.
To some, the fact that Brad Chilton is an avid dirt biker may seem at odds with his profound love for the wilderness-and his desire to see much of his treasured Boulder- White Clouds in central Idaho forever protected.
"I enjoy dirt bike riding," he will tell you, quickly adding, "and there are plenty of places I can ride-tons and tons, but we also need wilderness areas where we can have peace and quiet."
