Raw Material

"Wilderness is the raw material out of which man has hammered the artifact called civilization."

-- Aldo Leopold

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute - Resources for Wilderness Stewards

The Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute is the only Federal research group in the United States dedicated to the development and dissemination of knowledge needed to improve management of wilderness, parks, and similarly protected areas. Located on the University of Montana campus in Missoula, the Leopold Institute was formally established in 1993 by the U.S. Forest Service and is administered by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. The Institute operates under a Memorandum of Understanding among the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. Managers and scientists from these agencies play an active role in developing Leopold Institute programs and priorities. The Institute provides a national center for scientists from different disciplines and backgrounds to address the wilderness research needs of land management agencies and organizations.

See what's new at the Leopold Institute: http://leopold.wilderness.net/whatsnew.htm

Why we need wilderness

For the past several months wilderness has been a hot topic in Colorado. Discussion about new wilderness designations and of those involved has reached a fever pitch. Amidst all the discussion, the fundamental idea of wilderness often gets lost in the shuffle.

A recent article in the Sky-Hi Daily News zeroed in on the need for wilderness, and specifically focused on the benefits and values of federally designated wilderness. From the article:

“We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope.” - Wallace Stegner's Wilderness Letter, December 3, 1960

Why Wilderness Matters

“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” (The Wilderness Act).

There are 78,986 acres of congressionally designated “wilderness” on the National Forest Service lands in Grand County, and 92,888 acres of wilderness within Rocky Mountain National Park, offering hikers and backpackers the solitude they might not find on other public land.

In addition to the beauty of being surrounded by wilderness, there are long-term economic benefits.

Last August, The Wilderness Society reported the role wilderness plays in local economies: “Federally designated wilderness areas provide incredibly valuable services — like increasing local income and employment, boosting recreation and tourism and naturally filtering our air and drinking water. Economic studies show that wilderness can boost residential property values by almost 19 percent. Wilderness is also often a motivation for people to move to and stay in places, which leads to economic development.”

Read the full article here: http://www.tinyurl.com/23sm56r

Asheville Conservationist Stephen E. Hendricks Receives National Wilderness Award

ASHEVILLE — Stephen E. Hendricks, of Asheville, was awarded the 2010 Aldo Leopold Stewardship Award, to be presented Thursday in Washington.

The U.S. Forest Service has given the award for the past two decades for excellence in wilderness stewardship.

It is named in honor of Aldo Leopold, a Forest Service employee in the 1920s, recognized as one of the nation's greatest conservationists and the father of the American wilderness.

Hendricks, a recently retired 32-year Forest Service employee, served as planner/landscape architect for the National Forests in North Carolina for the past eight years.