Wilderness Heroes

If you need something done, ask a busy person.
- Proverb

"For the president to call for oil drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge is like
burning the furniture in the White House to keep the first family comfortable."
-- Gaylord Nelson

Steve Hinchliffe's mission in life and in business is well illustrated by a quote from Helen Keller, featured on the homepage of his Bennington, VT business, Nature's Closet: "I am only one person, and just because I cannot do everything, does not mean I will refuse to do that which I can."

Whether Steve is focused on raising the image of his community as a great outdoor destination, running a successful business, enjoying a wilderness adventure, or working to protect wild places in Vermont's Green Mountain National Forest, Steve gives i

What a life! Press secretary to a governor, track announcer for NASCAR races ("before NASCAR was cool"), outdoor columnist, host of a radio outdoor show, then a television show that has won more awards than any other. It is the life lived by Tony Dean of Pierre, South Dakota.

Imagine walking out your front door into a breathtakingly beautiful, fairytale-like forest of emerald ferns, vibrant green mosses, brilliant rhododendrons, and rare red spruce trees. Some would call it "heaven." Beth Little calls it home.

In the 1970s, Beth's life was very different. She was working in Los Angeles as a systems engineer for IBM. It was a hectic, fast-paced lifestyle, and she wanted a change. Beth and her family traveled around the United States and Canada, looking for a place to settle.

Roberta “Birdie” Stabel is a true lover of nature and a dedicated
champion of wilderness for the Tumacacori Highlands. An avid hiker and
horseback rider, Birdie resides just three miles from the Tumacacori
Highlands – an area proposed for wilderness designation -- and has
lived in the region for 30 years. “It’s my backyard, the first thing I
see in the morning,” she says. “It’s an extremely important part of my
life.”

Birdie has certainly taken advantage of the wide array of
opportunities that living in the Tumacacori region provides her.

Alice Elshoff, a tireless advocate for preserving Oregon’s High Desert landscape, grew up all around the West. In the rural, desert places of her youth, children entertained themselves by exploring the desert, and her love for wildness blossomed at an early age. “The
desert is just an incredible place,” she says.

In college, her passion for wild lands was cemented during a summer
spent working at a primitive camp in the Rocky Mountains. In 1956,
after earning a degree in education, Alice moved to Bend, Oregon where

Forest ranger, award-winning high school science teacher, committed grassroots wilderness advocate, experienced citizen-lobbyist on Capitol Hill, and eloquent witness at a U.S. Senate wilderness hearing --Mike Town has filled many roles. The current focus of Mike's advocacy is the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness, the peaks of which he can see from his solar-powered home near Monroe, Washington.

Mike originally planned a career in the U.S. Forest Service, for which he prepared at Huxley College of Environmental Sciences, part of Western Washington University in Bellingham.

“I don’t think there is a greater legacy you can leave than protected land,” said Peter Windrem of Kelseyville, CA. Peter should know, he’s been fortunate enough to experience wilderness all of his life and has spent decades working to protect it, even as he raised two children and built his law practice in Lake County, California, 90 miles north of San Francisco.

Today, thanks to the work of Peter and many other hardworking volunteers, the future is bright for California’s wilderness.

If you ever get a chance to visit Las Vegas, be sure to leave. Yes, leave. Get
in your car and step on it as fast as you can. Head northeast towards the
mountains. Keep going until you hit the small town of Mesquite -- population
16,000. Then, head north and get ready to satisfy your appetite for wilderness
with a breathtaking view of Nancy Hall’s “garden” -- the Mormon Mountains -- one
of America’s newest designated wilderness areas.