Director's Report - March 2008
Saving roadless, wildlands should be a national priority
By: John Buckley, CSERC Executive Direcotor
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Anyone who leaves a road far behind them and ventures out into a wild area finds that the senses become more aware, the landscape around you becomes more important, and the little experiences of the day become more meaningful. Eating a handful of trail mix on a ridgetop while looking out over a sunlit panorama can give greater flavor to both the food and the view. Walking through a wild forest may not necessarily lead you to an exciting encounter with a bear or a mountain lion, but the possibilities of such wildlife sightings enrich a backcountry trip, even if the animals that are actually seen are relatively commonplace.
Wild places provide some of Earth’s sanctuaries for those who are stressed by pollution, traffic jams, work stress, or sedentary inertia. Roadless wild lands contain the smells, the scenery, and the intricate wonders of nature that can amaze and delight – calling us back in the future to rekindle those sensations.
Wild lands, for most of us, makes us think first of personal pleasure or the memories we may create from walking, riding, kayaking, or snowshoeing into a wild area. But there is also the responsibility that the present generation has to protect and preserve wild places for future generations – to keep the remaining wild, roadless areas in a pristine condition so that those who come in the future can savor and explore those places.
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Sadly, over recent centuries, cultures around the globe have focused primarily at exploiting our precious planet, aiming to maximize profits and benefits for humans at the expense of the countless numbers of other life forms that share the Earth with us. In recent decades, better education and the ease of communication have spread environmental awareness around the world, although relatively few have openly embraced practices that nurture our water planet. The United States has been one of the leading threats to the environment through so many decades of intensive material consumption by Americans and through industrial practices around the world that harm water, air, and ecological resources. Yet our country has also been on the leading edge of preserving substantial wild lands.
  
Today – NOW – is the time for America to draw the line and to create a Wild Limit that makes it a national priority to have No Net Loss of Wild Lands in our country. The federal lands should be at the forefront of such a policy, and protecting the remaining roadless areas on our national forest lands is the easiest, most logical, most economical frugal, and most responsible step our society can take to fulfill our responsibility to future generations.
Wild places are a legacy we should leave in a most excellent condition to our children, our grandchildren, and the 100th generation to follow. On our website, viewers can now look at a “Wild at Heart” report about continuing threats to roadless areas on national forest lands. Become informed, and then let your political representatives know that you care about preserving our remaining wild places.
John Buckley, executive director
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CSERC | PO Box 396 | Twain Harte, CA 95383 | (209) 586-7440 | info@cserc.org
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