Our campaigns.
To achieve wilderness protection on federal lands, Congress must pass legislation that designates the area as a “wilderness area” or name an important river as “wild and scenic.” In California, that means securing bipartisan support from both House and Senate members to sponsor bills designating wilderness areas in their districts. We work to help create and build support for federal legislation that secures wilderness designation for wilderness-quality lands, lakes, and rivers in California.
Our work involves creating and building support for federal legislation that secures top-notch protections for wilderness-quality lands, lakes, and rivers in California. We start in the field and in the community. We walk the land and map it. We work in coalition with local activists and try to build consensus among initially opposing interests. We help identify citizen advocates who help carry the preservation and recreation message to Congress. Once a wild space is protected, we monitor and respond to changes in federal management policy, administrative directives, planning, or legislation that impact our beloved wild places.
How we do it.
We start in the field and in the community. We walk the land and map it. We work in coalition with local activists and try to build consensus among initially opposing interests. We help identify citizen advocates who help carry the preservation and recreation message to Congress. Some of what we do on a day-to-day basis include:
- surveying and GIS mapping
- organizing local activists, volunteers and community outreach
- developing public education materials and hosting meetings
- production of fact sheets, policy papers, online and print publications promoting wilderness
- coordinating stakeholders
- media outreach
- drafting bill language and meeting with legislative staff
- providing guidance to Congressional committees on potential obstacles and strategies to overcome them
- alerting members, the public, lawmakers and business communities to the inherent value in wilderness protection
Our work doesn’t stop there. Once a wild space is protected by designating it as a wilderness area, we monitor and respond to changes in federal management policy, administrative directives, planning, or legislation that impact wilderness or wilderness quality public lands, lakes and rivers. We use outreach, public education, and constituency building to ensure protection. We also sometimes seek legal remedy in the courts.