wilderness

The Wilderness Act at 50: Wilderness in the Anthropocene

By Jason Mark / On September 3rd, 2014

Editor's note: Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Wilderness Act. To commemorate the anniversary, we asked a small group of Island Press authors to reflect on the influence of this law to date and how its role may or should change as we move into an uncertain future. We are sharing the series through the end of this week.

#ForewordFriday: Red Pill/Blue Pill Edition

By Meghan Bartels / On May 9th, 2014

If you've flipped through the latest issue of the New Yorker, you may have spotted "Green is Good" (subscription required), which profiles The Nature Conservancy's president and CEO, Mark Tercek, and a few of the projects they've worked on since he joined the organization. The article mentions Keeping the Wild, a compilation of essays confronting the principles of the "new conservation" that Tercek supports, inc

Executive Orders for 2014: Michael Branch

By Michael Branch / On January 13th, 2014

Back in November of 2013, President Obama issued an executive order on climate preparedness. Because executive orders circumvent Congress within certain limits, they allow the president to implement action to address climate change and other issues. A few weeks ago I asked some of our authors to create their own executive orders to improve our handling of the environment.

Photo credit: Flock/bandada by Flickr.com user Rafael Edwards

Confessions of an Ecoporn Addict

By Charles C. Chester / On June 26th, 2013

I’m on a site tour, standing with a group of dedicated conservation advocates in a field just outside of Troy, Montana. It’s a truly unimpressive place. A nondescript forested ridge lies in the far distance, a couple of well-kept houses and not-so-well-kept shacks are strewn about in the near distance, I look down to see some nondescript scrub under our feet—and then there’s the rural highway behind me.

Kill the Frogs?

By Robert J. Cabin / On April 27th, 2011

Feeling overwhelmed by civilization? Dreaming of getting away from it all? Before embarking on your great escape, you should know that these days we intensively manage all our "wilderness" areas, the wildlife you encounter out there will undoubtedly include exotic species that are wreaking ecological havoc, and that some natural resource managers now believe there is nothing we can or should do about these increasingly human-dominated "novel ecosystems." Welcome to the Brave New Eco-World.