Energizing Volunteers to Protect Western Treasures
Uncontrolled off-road vehicle traffic, proliferating invasive species, and other problems face the National Landscape Conservation System—26 million acres of historic and wild public lands in the West. Due to irresponsible decreases in funding, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management cannot care for these areas adequately, so The Wilderness Society and other partners have organized volunteer projects to plug the gap.
In October, for example, we took the lead in organizing volunteers to help protect a herd of pronghorn antelope that recently was reintroduced to its historic habitat in the Carrizo Plain National Monument near Bakersfield, California. “Fences can be a real barrier for antelope, preventing them from reaching food and water,” explained Geary Hund of The Wilderness Society. “So we put together a team that will remove, over time, old cattle fences that are no longer needed and modify others so the antelope can shimmy underneath.”
An hour southwest of Phoenix, Sonoran Desert National Monument features seemingly endless forests of giant saguaro cacti, desert wildlife, and the cultural history of the West. The BLM is working on a 20-year management plan for this monument, but there is an enormous data gap because less than five percent of the monument has been inventoried for ancient archaeological artifacts or evidence of historic explorers and pioneers. “You can’t write a very good plan if you don’t know what’s out there that needs protection,” notes Jill Ozarski, based in our Denver office. Accordingly, we helped produce and coordinate a team of volunteers, including trained archaeologists, site stewards, and tribal members.
Later in the fall at this national monument, other volunteers, organized by the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, focused on restoration of the North Maricopa Wilderness and the Anza National Historic Trail. They helped rehabilitate areas scarred by illegal off-road vehicle travel, installed wilderness boundary signs, and cleaned up the area.
The BLM has less than $2 an acre for management and a bare-bones conservation staff. That $2 an acre becomes smaller every year as the West’s rapid population growth drives up the use of the National Landscape Conservation System. Our coalition of more than 50 groups includes the American Hiking Society, the Sierra Club, and the Arizona Wilderness Coalition. Learn more about the National Landscape Conservation System.
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