Know someone who’s worked tirelessly to protect
the West’s wild places? Nominate him or her for a “Wilderness
Hero” award. The program, which began last year, will honor two
volunteers each month leading up to the 40th anniversary of the
Wilderness Act this September. Award sponsors include The Campaign
for America’s Wilderness, the Sierra Club, The Wilderness
Society and other grassroots conservation groups.
So far,
the award’s recipients have been a diverse bunch, including a
former ranger, a Montana millworker and the students of a Seattle
elementary school. But they have one thing in common — fierce
devotion to their cause, whether it’s closing outdated
loopholes in a mining law, saving Montana’s Yaak Valley for
grizzlies, or designating more wilderness in Washington state.
The November 2003 winner, for example, is Katie Kleinick,
a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who volunteers
with Friends of Nevada Wilderness, organizing events, writing
letters and recruiting other volunteers. She also plans to take
students and community members out in the wild to see the places
they’re trying to save.
For more information or to
nominate a wilderness hero in your community, see
www.wildernessforever.org/heroes/.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Heroes for the wild.
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