Felice Pace’s assertion that there is no
grassroots wilderness movement in the West is simply ridiculous
(HCN, 6/21/04: What grassroots wilderness movement?). We have a
thriving grassroots movement here in Colorado, one that long
precedes the assistance of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The support
of the foundation did not change our strategy one bit — a
strategy that has resulted in the designation of four new
wilderness areas in the last four years. (The fact that we are not
currently receiving Pew funding has also not changed our approach.)
As far as I can tell, “Pew’s strategy” consists of
providing support to regional coalitions that have crafted
promising political strategies for moving wilderness legislation
through Congress. And by the way, this has resulted in over 1.5
million acres of new wilderness in three of the most conservative
Congresses in recent memory.
So, please: How about if we
spend less of our time sniping at our friends, and more time
defending wildlands against the Bush administration onslaught
— and maybe even designating more wilderness.
Jeff Widen
Durango, Colorado
The writer is associate director of the Colorado Environmental Coalition.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wilderness movement adapts to political landscape.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
