OPINION: Prairie worth preserving

This time of the year, as we spend time with family and friends, consider what we are thankful for, and, of course, exchange presents, I have been thinking about an important gift I would like to see given to my children - and theirs.That's the gift of our irreplaceable wild land.South Dakotans are fortunate to be able to enjoy expanses of the nation's grasslands. While much has been lost to expanding development that has sprung up to accommodate a growing population, there are still bits of grasslands largely untouched by civilization.To me, and people who think like me, it is vitally important that some of this waving prairie - the original South Dakota landscape that helped shape us as people - stay as it is, to be used and enjoyed by those who will come after us.We anglers and hunters know that some of the finest fishing and hunting occurs in the wild - away from roads and the roar of engines. As one who has enjoyed these traditions for years, I speak from experience.I grew up on a farm near a lake in the northeast corner of the state, one of 10 children. My eight brothers and sister and I all hunted from an early age and fished the lake nearly year round.My mother still lives on that lake, and these days I enjoy sharing these traditions with my grandchildren. The outdoors and all it offers are a rich part of our daily lives. That's probably why I got involved in the work of the Izaak Walton League - and why I am working to help establish the nation's first-ever Youth Conservation Center - because I feel strongly that we all have a responsibility to be good stewards and to protect the land.South Dakotans have a chance to make history and a chance to guarantee that the wildest opportunities that contribute so importantly to our sporting heritage can be handed to our grandchildren and on to each generation to follow. Incredibly, not an acre of national grasslands has yet been permanently protected as wilderness.Not a single acre!That's why it's important that the citizens' effort to do so here in the Mount Rushmore state succeed.A wide array of South Dakotans - sportsmen, ranchers, conservationists, business people, Native American tribes, and others - have joined to protect a piece of this special wild land as wilderness. The Cheyenne River Valley Grasslands Heritage Proposal would preserve just over 70,000 acres (12 percent) of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland as wilderness, safe from road building, plowing and irresponsible off-road vehicle abuse.I believe it is vital that some of our wild land can be passed down in its original state. We've been fortunate to use this land - to hike, camp, horseback ride, picnic as well as hunt and fish, and it would be shortsighted not to provide for future generations to enjoy this land as we have.The Izaak Walton League of America helped pioneer the idea of wilderness preservation. As far back as the 1920s, the League pushed for protection of Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness because our members recognized that the wild areas are not a luxury but an essential part of the fabric of our lives and outdoor pleasures.Since the League's inception, we have supported actions to ensure that significant and representative pieces of our public lands are kept in their wild and natural condition - for true wilderness fishing and hunting adventures and other forms of outdoor recreation, for education, for scenic beauty and for scientific purposes.We Americans are blessed to have so much public land - vast open spaces, rushing rivers, desert canyons, towering mountains, ancient forests. It is time we protect some of our beloved prairie grasslands in their wildest condition as a living reminder of the pioneer history that is so integral to who we are as a people. And that is truly a gift worth giving.