Ecological Values of Wilderness
Preserving the web of life
California is home to a spectacular variety of plants and animals. The Golden State contains over 5,800 different plant species-one-quarter of the total found in the United States. About 1500 of these are "endemic" plants that grow nowhere else on Earth.
More than 800 species of wildlife include California in a significant part of their range. Indeed, California's unique ecosystems have been recognized as some of the most important places for biological diversity worldwide.
Unfortunately, the web of life is unravelling in California. More than 130 species in the state are considered to be at-risk to extinction. The primary reason for the decline of plants and wildlife? Destruction or degradation of habitat. Unprotected wilderness areas contain some of the highest quality plant and animal habitat remaining in California.
Numerous plants and animals depend on the habitat provided by California's wilderness areas. More than 200 rare, threatened and endangered native plants and 54 threatened animals are found in California's unprotected wilderness. Many of these species would perish without the habitat provided by our state's last unprotected wilderness areas.
For example, numerous animals, such as pine martens, pileated woodpeckers, and clouded salamanders, require healthy ancient forests, like those found in the unprotected wilderness areas of northwestern California. In the high Sierra, bighorn sheep depend on the pristine wilderness areas for their survival. Without wilderness, many of these species could perish within our lifetime, and the web of life will continue to unravel.
Where wilderness goes, so goes the salmon
Currently, several species of salmon are facing extinction in California and throughout the west. The loss of salmon is tied directly to the destruction of wilderness. Wilderness areas provide the clean, cold water necessary for salmon survival. Some wilderness areas, such as the Siskiyou, Marble Mountains, and Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel provide, or are the headwaters to, some of the highest quality salmon spawning grounds found anywhere in California. Logging and road construction chokes these waters with sediments and decimates spawning grounds.
Even federal land management and wildlife agencies have documented the importance of roadless lands. According to one United States Forest Service report, roadless areas "serve as the anchor points for restoring riparian vegetation, water quality, and fish habitat." The National Marine Fisheries Service agrees, stating that "Roadless areas contain much of the remaining high quality habitat for anadromous fish. They can be considered havens for weak stocks and may facilitate the future recolonization of restored habitats." One of the easiest, and least costly, ways we can help the salmon is to preserve our last unprotected wilderness areas.
Preserving our water
A recent analysis of 22 scientific studies on sedimentation found that roadways cause a 200-fold increase in the number of landslides in forest ecosystems, and a similar increase in the volume of sediment dumped into rivers. These landslides are devastating to the quality of our state's water. Protecting wilderness areas-and eliminating harmful new road construction-is a critical step in safeguarding California's waterways.
Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck has stated that roads are the "number one water quality problem in the national forests." Roads dramatically increase sedimentation and erosion, leading to the degradation of our rivers and streams. These are the same rivers and streams that Californians depend on for their drinking water. Indeed, over two-thirds of California's drinking water originates in our national forests.
Roadless areas and ecological health
In December, 1997, 169 leading scientists wrote to President Clinton, urging him to enact a "scientifically-based policy for roadless areas on public lands." Such a policy, the scientists urge, "should, at a minimum, protect from development all roadless areas larger than 1,000 acres and those smaller areas that have special ecological significance because of their contribution to regional landscapes." Such a policy would be a critical step towards assuring that the ecological integrity of the landscape remains intact. Clinton announced a Roadless Area Conservation policy in 2000, but the policy has since been delayed by the Bush Administration.
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.
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Just three miles off of Interstate 80, 
