The Wilderness Society (United States)
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| Motto | Keep it Wild. #WeAreTheWild #OurWild |
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| Formation | 1935 |
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Membership
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More than 700,000 |
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President
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Jamie Williams |
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Founders
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Bob Marshall, Benton MacKaye, Aldo Leopold, Bernard Frank, Robert Sterling Yard, Harvey Broome |
| Website | www.wilderness.org |
The Wilderness Society is an American non-profit land conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting natural areas and federal public lands in the United States. They advocate for the designation of federal wilderness areas and other protective designations, such as for national monuments. They support balanced uses of public lands, and advocate for federal politicians to enact various land conservation and balanced land use proposals. The Wilderness Society also engages in a number of ancillary activities, including education and outreach, and hosts one of the most valuable collections of Ansel Adams photographs at their headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Wilderness Society specializes in issues involving lands under the management of federal agencies; such lands include national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges, and areas overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. It has also been active in fighting political efforts since the early 21st century to reduce protection for America’s lands and wildlife.
The organization was instrumental in the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act. This created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which now protects nearly 110 million acres of U.S. public wildlands in all 50 states. As one of the largest conservationist organizations in the country, the Wilderness Society has contributed to nearly all major designations of lands to be entered into the wilderness system.
The Wilderness Society was incorporated on January 21, 1935 by a group of eight men who would later become some of the 20th Century's most prominent conservationists.
Yard became the Society's first secretary and the editor of its magazine, The Living Wilderness. Marshall, who was independently wealthy, made donations to finance the new organization. In addition, he set up a trust through his estate to provide future revenues to the Society. After he died in 1939 at age 38, The Wilderness Society began to receive such revenues.
The Wilderness Act, considered one of America's bedrock conservation laws, was written by The Wilderness Society's former Executive Director Howard Zahniser. Passed by Congress in 1964, the Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which now protects nearly 110 million acres of designated wilderness areas throughout the United States. Among the first wilderness areas created by the act were: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota; Bridger Wilderness, Wyoming; Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana; and Ansel Adams Wilderness, California.
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