When the Wilderness Society released a list of the 10
most endangered wild places in the U.S. last year, it hoped media
attention would slow down the development threatening these unique
areas. But this year’s list has been expanded to 15 sites, and only
one area dropped off the list because of increased protection. The
proposed expansion of military overflights in the West (HCN,
4/13/98) has put three sites on the list – southern Arizona’s
Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands,
and the Mojave Desert. The usual suspects – proposed oil and gas
drilling and clear-cutting – are responsible for the listing of
several other sites in the West, including the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the Badger-Two Medicine Wilderness in
Montana, Washington’s Cascade Crest, Routt National Forest in
Colorado, and southern Utah’s redrock country. Planned roadbuilding
threatens Petroglyph National Monument in New Mexico and Izembek
National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian
Islands.
For a copy of the report, released July
1, write to the Wilderness Society at 900 17th St. NW, Washington,
D.C. 20006-2596, call 202/833-2300. or go to the group’s Web page
at www.wilderness.org.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Still on the hit list.
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