For the lands that shaped us: Let's hand them down, not over.
Remember the place that made you fall in love with the outdoors?
People are standing up for the public lands that shaped them. Meet three of them, and join the movement to hand these places down, not over.
Public lands are part of America’s story, and for many of us, they are part of our own. They are where we first felt the freedom of the outdoors: on trails, rivers, ridgelines, campsites and open spaces introduced to us by someone we love. These places hold memories that shape us, and they belong to all of us.
That is why The Wilderness Society is launching Hand ’em down, not over, a new campaign celebrating the public lands we share and the responsibility we have to protect them.
Watch these stories from our staff members, remember the wild places that shaped you, and add your name to the Public Lands Protector pledge to help pass them on to the next generation.
Jessy Stevenson
Deep roots in Montana’s wild places shape a lifelong commitment to stewardship and future generations.
“Being better stewards means we’re continuing to protect these places now, but more importantly, we’re protecting them for future generations.”
Jessy Stevenson, the Crown of the Continent Specialist at TWS, grew up in Montana’s Swan Valley, surrounded by public lands, wild water and the mountains that shaped her family across generations. As a child, the outdoors was her classroom and playground. She learned to swim in a pond, read tracks in the snow and understand the land through maps, stories and time spent outside. One of her earliest backcountry experiences came when her parents snowshoed into the Bob Marshall Wilderness with her as an 18-month-old, spending a winter in one of the wildest places in the lower 48.
Her story is a reminder that public lands are more than lines on a map. They are places that hold family history, community, wildlife, clean water and the freedom to move through the outdoors under your own power.
Gabriel Otero
A family hunting tradition becomes a promise to protect the lands that shaped it.
“I want my daughters to understand that they belong out here too.”
For Gabriel Otero, The Wilderness Society's senior campaign specialist, a love for public lands is something handed down across generations. In Stove Canyon and the wild country of western Colorado, he walks the same canyons where his grandfather and great-grandfather hunted, carrying memories shaped by his father’s lessons about wildlife, ethics, history and respect for all living things.
What began as childhood mornings hunting with family has grown into a deeper responsibility: to steward the lands that fed, taught and connected his family so that his daughters, nephews and future generations can experience the same freedom, belonging and heritage. For Gabriel, protecting public lands means keeping that line unbroken, ensuring these places remain open, healthy and shared for everyone who comes after us.
Axie Navas
A childhood in the Rockies becomes a practice of teaching the next generation to pay attention.
“This is a shared place, and we’re going to make sure it’s protected in perpetuity.”
For Axie Navas, our director of designation campaigns, a love for public lands began in the foothills of Colorado’s Southern Rockies, where national forest lands sat just beyond her childhood backyard and weekends were spent skiing, hiking and camping with family. The mountains drew her parents to the Vail Valley and shaped the community that raised her, creating a legacy of people who chose not only to live near wild places, but to protect them as shared public lands and wilderness. Now, Axie carries that legacy forward with her own daughter, Zeo, teaching her to slow down, notice beavers, bugs, aspen trees and wildlife, and feel that same joy and belonging outside.
For Axie, handing public lands down means paying attention, showing up and making sure these places remain whole, intact and accessible so the next generation can inherit the freedom, wonder and wildness that shaped her own life.
The places that shaped us will not protect themselves. They need people willing to stand up when public lands are threatened, when access is at risk and when short-term profit is put ahead of the memories, wildlife and freedom these lands make possible.
That is what this pledge is about: making clear that our public lands belong to all of us, and that we intend to keep them protected, shared and passed on.
These lands belong to you and future generations. Let's hand em' down, not over.
Sign our pledge and affirm your commitment to protecting our public lands.
