Sierra Club's Goal to Save 52 Places in 10 Years

Sierra Club's Goal to Save 52 Places in 10 Years



2007 September -   A new report released by the 
Sierra Club today identifies 52 of America's most important and most 
threatened public lands. The report was released in celebration of 
National Public Lands Day, which is this Saturday, September 29. 
The report, "America's Wild Legacy," presents the Sierra Club plan for 
protecting one wild place in each state, plus Puerto Rico and the District 
of Columbia, over the next 10 years. 
"When you look closely at a map of the United States, you can see that the 
vast majority of our public lands are already open for development of one 
kind or another. That makes it that much more important to protect the few 
wild places that remain," said Sierra Club Lands Representative Myke 
Bybee, who authored the report. 
Oil and gas drilling, logging, irresponsible recreation, and global 
warming are eating away at the places Americans rely on for respite and 
recreation, the Sierra Club says. 
Many of the 52 places selected by the Sierra Club for protection are 
threatened by development. 
A push for oil and gas drilling has placed Alaska's Western Arctic, 
inhabited by the largest caribou herd in North America, in jeopardy. 
Oregon's Mt. Hood National Forest, ideal for climbing, hiking, camping, 
and wildlife viewing, faces increasing attempts to log its old-growth 
trees, many older than the United States. 
Louisiana's coastal cypress forests are disappearing as logging companies 
turn the trees into garden mulch. 
A proposal for a massive coal plant in Missouri threatens the Mingo 
National Wildlife Refuge with pollution from the 700-foot smokestack that 
would pour smog into the area. 
In Utah, the Red Rock desert and its lizards, tortoises, and eagles are 
experiencing new roads, noise and pollution from off-road vehicles and 
hard rock mines. 
"The heart of America's wild legacy lies in our public lands," Bybee said. 
"As Americans, each one of us is part owner in our forests, mountains and 
deserts. We have a choice to make, between treating these irreplaceable 
lands as a giveaway to special interests, or as a gift to our children and 
grandchildren."
 
To read the report, or to view a threatened place up close on Google 
Earth, visit: www.sierraclub.org/52places 

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