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Californians Benefit from Wilderness Protection

Wilderness provides excellent recreation opportunities
Each year, millions of Californians visit the natural treasures of the Golden State to hike, fish, camp, hunt, swim, or simply observe nature. Wilderness areas are all open to people and provide excellent opportunities to experience the peace and quiet of the great outdoors. The opportunity to visit and enjoy our many scenic treasures is an important reason why California is so special.

Indeed, one public opinion poll found that 82% of Californians believe that outdoor recreation areas are an important component of their quality of life. The same survey found that natural and undeveloped areas are the preferred destinations for outdoor recreation and that almost 60% of Californians went hiking in 1997.

Wilderness areas provide excellent recreation opportunities in California's great outdoors. In 1995, our national forest wilderness areas received over two and a half million visitors. Whether you prefer hiking, horseback riding, hunting, camping or fishing, you can do it in your favorite wilderness area. With California expected to gain over 18 million new residents in the next two decades, the need for more wilderness areas for recreation could not be greater.

Currently, over 48 million acres of land in California are publicly owned. Only 14 million of these acres are currently protected as wilderness, leaving much of the remaining acreage open to mining, logging, and off-road vehicle use. Even if an additional five million acres of wilderness were protected, California would still contain over 25 million acres of federally owned land that remains open to vehicles, mining, and other forms of development.

California's national forests currently contain over 44,000 miles of roads which provide excellent access to our forests. Wilderness designation will not close legitimate roads, and the existing roads will continue to service our public lands.

Our rural economies depend on intact natural landscapes
Many of California's rural regions depend on tourism and recreation to provide a strong economic base. In the Sierra Nevada, for example, recreation provides four times as much economic activity as does national forest logging. Many rural economies that were once dependent on resource extraction are now based on recreation and tourism-activities that depend on healthy, intact ecosystems.

In 1995, the U.S. Forest Service studied the economic impacts of national forest use. The agency found that recreation provides 88% of the jobs and 85% of the income generated by national forest use. Timber production accounted for only two percent of the jobs and three percent of the income.

These numbers are expected to continue into the future. The Forest Service estimates that in fifty years, recreation will account for over 90% of all national forest jobs, while logging will account for just 1.6% of all forest jobs. In that time period, an additional 1.6 million jobs will be created across America by recreation activities within national forests. Less than 10% of California's unprotected wilderness areas are suitable for logging, while they are almost all suitable for recreational activities.

Throughout California, income generated by recreation and tourism is far outpacing income provided by resource extraction. In northwest California, for example, logging on public lands currently provides less than one half of one percent of all jobs. Trade and services provides close to half of all jobs in the region. Unemployment in the region reached a six-year low in 1996, and the region has gained 8,700 new jobs since 1993-an employment growth rate that is 30% greater than the rate of population growth.

Similar results have been found elsewhere. A consensus report by 66 northwest economists found that "a healthy environment is a major stimulus for a healthy economy." Despite restrictions on national forest logging, the northwest region is enjoying the healthiest economic growth in a generation.

Throughout California, residents and tourists visit the state's countless natural treasures. Left intact for future visitors to enjoy, these treasures will provide the foundation for healthy, diverse, and sustainable rural economies far into the future.

For more information
For more information about how you can help to protect California's last wild places, contact the California Wilderness Coalition at (510) 451-1450 or info@calwild.org.