A group of prominent Americans have put politics aside to mark the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act -- the nation’s conservation landmark.

A new ad produced by the Campaign for America’s Wilderness featuring a group of notable Americans for Wilderness debuted in late July in the Boston Globe, and will appear in The New York Times during the Republican convention. Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford are honorary members of Americans for Wilderness, which is helping to focus attention on America’s special wild places and our wilderness legacy during this anniversary year. Co-chaired by Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Redford, and Christopher Reeve, Americans for Wilderness includes former U.S. Senators George McGovern (D-SD) and Richard Schweicker (R-PA), former U.S. Representatives Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY), Pete McCloskey (R-CA), and Jolene Unsoeld (D-WA), Theodore Roosevelt, IV, Morgan Freeman, Wilma Mankiller, Bonnie Raitt, and former Governors Cecil Andrus (D-ID) and David Cargo (R-NM).

“As senators who worked to protect wilderness areas in our states, we are pleased to be members of Americans for Wilderness,” former Senators Dale Bumpers (D-AR) and Dan Evans (R-WA) wrote recently. “Protecting wilderness areas is not some top-down federal decision. It is the most "small-d" democratic land allocation process we've invented. Potential wilderness areas are identified by on-the-ground agency staff and local people who know the land best, and then the decision to carry a bill is made by our elected representatives in Congress, led usually, though not always, by the local congressional delegation."

For More Information

• View the new ad (PDF)
• Susan Whitmore, Campaign for America's Wilderness, 202-266-0435