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ESGBERT 27

At the start of with climate change accelerating, racial injustice commanding long overdue attention and a pivotal and fraught transition of political power coming to pass—the country was enveloped by a kind of division and darkness many of us had never seen before.

But even as crises mounted, we came together committed to creating a brighter tomorrow—where connections between people and wild places are strengthened, and our planet receives the care it needs.

Working with the new administration and grassroots stakeholders across the U.S., we began repairing the damage of the Trump years, secured essential progress and continued building the resilient, just and sustainable tomorrow that our communities need.

Emily Sullivan After four years of attacks on public lands by a U.S. president, we entered a new era with the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 21, 2021.

Over the course of the year, your partnership with The Wilderness Society, and your generous support, enabled us to secure significant conservation victories.

Working with community and Indigenous-led coalitions, we focused on undoing the damage of the Trump years and pursuing public lands solutions to climate change, species extinction and expanding equitable access to nature.

And together we made a more inclusive conservation movement a reality.

It was an honor to stand with the Tribes and see President Biden restore the Bears Ears National Monument to its original boundaries, and deeply gratifying to have a hand in gaining protection for threatened lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

These victories demonstrate the impact of combining The Wilderness Society’s expertise and strength with efforts led by the people who have the most at stake.

They also serve to remind us that we never have, and never will, achieve major conservation gains by acting alone.

You are a vital member of this movement to create a sustainable future in which all people and nature can thrive together, from the urban to the wild.

Indeed, you are integral to every victory and advance described in these pages.

And we greatly look forward to working with you to pursue our many bold conservation initiatives in the year ahead.

Land Acknowledgment The Wilderness Society recognizes Native American and Indigenous peoples as the longest serving stewards of the land.

We respect their inherent sovereignty and self-determination and honor treaty rights, including reserved rights that exist off their reservations.

We acknowledge the historic and ongoing injustices perpetrated against Indigenous peoples and are committed to being more conscientious and inclusive and working with Indigenous peoples to advance the establishment of trust and respect in our relationships.

We seek the guidance of Native American and Indigenous peoples to effectively advocate for the protection of culturally significant lands and the preservation of language and culture.

We strive to support actions that respect the priorities, traditional knowledge, interests and concerns of Native American and Indigenous peoples to ensure a more just and equitable future.

The profound power of public lands can help us address the urgent crises before us and create a resilient, just and sustainable future.

In simple but bold commitment: to conserve the wild and irreplaceable lands around us.

Eighty-seven years later, with over protected, that commitment hasn’t changed.

But its relevance in a world that is facing extraordinary and increasingly urgent challenges has.

Today, we know that wild, public lands offer some of the best solutions to some of the biggest challenges of our time, and that—when they are thoughtfully cared for and equitably shared—they give us a powerful opportunity to confront the crises we face.

Slowing Species Extinction: Rampant development and a changing climate are causing irreversible damage to wildlife and wild nature, as well as to people and communities.

and allow for the migration necessary for the survival of wildlife.

• Building equitable, community led collaborations in key landscapes to drive lasting conservation solutions.

• Advocating for new national policies that accelerate the protection of nature.

Confronting Climate Change: We know that we have less than avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Pushing for sharp reductions in fossil fuel extraction on public lands.

• Advocating for rapid expansion of responsibly sited renewable energy.

Ensuring Equitable Access to Nature: Historically, institutions and systems have excluded or failed many communities—and in many ways, continue to do so.

Driving policy innovation to ensure equitable access to nature and inclusive public lands decision-making.

Using our platform and resources to invest in the power of those who have too often been excluded from conservation leadership.

• Working alongside Indigenous communities in their efforts to protect lands with deep cultural and spiritual significance.

To achieve this first-ever national conservation goal, we must rely on federal public lands, which cover of our country and contain most of its remaining wildlands.

Wilderness Society scientists have identified the most biologically rich places to create a resilient landscape network that will allow species of all kinds to migrate and adapt to rapidly changing climate conditions.

Protecting nature on this scale will not only lessen the ongoing extinction crisis but will also help curb the worst effects of climate change and ensure communities have access to clean air, clean water and outdoor spaces.

In the face of the extinction crisis, your support is helping to build a more resilient tomorrow.

But in illegally stripped of protections by an administration intent on prioritizing mining and drilling.

“President Biden did the right thing restoring the Bears Ears National Monument.

For us the monument never went away ...

The monument represents a historic opportunity for the federal government to learn and incorporate our tribal land management practices.

Practices that we developed over centuries and are needed more now than ever.” — Chairman Shaun Chapoose, Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee and BEITC member.

and contain most of its remaining wildlands 28% Invited by the Tribal leaders who led the efforts to create and restore Bears Ears, The Wilderness Society’s President Jamie Williams (2nd from right, back row) attended the signing ceremony on October 8, 2021.

Both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are in the Red Rock country of southeastern Utah, one of landscapes identified by our science team, which will take priority as we confront the crises before us.

With your support, we are actively working with communities in several states that have built strong coalitions seeking new national monument designations in the region.

Ned Whitney and Martha Howell When Ned Whitney started his career in New York City far removed from the expansive woods and free-flowing trout streams that shaped his upbringing in rural New Hampshire.

The Harvard Business School graduate longed for a few good hiking trails until an acquaintance took him and his wife, Martha Howell, to explore the state parks of the Hudson Highlands.

“Just miles outside of Manhattan, we were standing on a mountain—no houses, no roads, no buildings in sight,” he says.

Thankful for ready access to thousands of acres of public lands near the city, Ned looked for ways to help protect other wild places, including those he may never visit.

“The Wilderness Society stood out as having the skills and capacity to build public support to protect large areas of wildlands across the country,” he says.

Intrigued, Ned made his first gift in from 2007 to 2015, and today, he is a member of our President’s Circle.

the damage to people and nature from climate change has become more severe.

now, and if there was ever a time to support an organization that is going to help us mitigate this crisis—and create a sustainable future for people, wildlife and wildlands—now is that time,” he insists.

From the deserts of California to the Alaskan Arctic, from the Appalachian Mountains to countless other landscapes, public lands are rich in beauty and biodiversity and provide immeasurable benefits to the communities who count on them.

And yet, private interests, and often our own government, have long seen these shared lands as a source of profit for the fossil fuel industry.

This is damaging to wild nature and nearby communities, especially those that bear the brunt of fossil fuel pollution.

It also makes public lands a central contributor to our planet’s rapidly changing climate.

In fact, in the U.S., coal, oil and gas production from federal public lands represents nearly one quarter of our total national greenhouse gas emissions.

If U.S. public lands were a country, its emissions alone would be the fifth highest in the world.

Hope soared in taking decisive action on climate change.

Although transformative legislative solutions stalled in Congress at the end of the year, opportunities for progress remain as the Executive Branch has direct control and wide latitude over the use of federal public lands.

Making public lands part of the climate solution requires making change at a grand scale.

We must transition away from fossil fuel extraction, expand responsibly sited renewable energy, and protect wildlands that serve as “carbon sinks,” which take carbon from the atmosphere and store it.

In the face of climate change, your support is helping to build a more sustainable tomorrow.

Old-growth and mature forests are among the most powerful tools for natural carbon sequestration we have, and none is more important than the Tongass National Forest.

Located in southeast Alaska, the Tongass is one of the last and largest temperate rainforests on earth.

With its towering old-growth and mature stands of trees, it absorbs and stores more heat-trapping carbon than any other U.S. forest.

In with a coalition of Southeast Alaskan Indigenous Tribes, local businesses and others to push the Biden administration to initiate the formal process to restore protection to 9.4 million acres in the heart of the Tongass that had been unlawfully voided by the Trump administration.

Crucially, the Biden administration went further, banning all industrial-scale logging of old growth trees throughout the committing an initial $25 million to Tribal priorities and community well-being in the region.

These restored and expanded protections secure an essential “carbon sink” and set an important precedent for climate-friendly forest protection in the future.

We are working to change the laws and policies that govern how public lands are managed so that they prioritize climate protection, equitable access to nature for everyone, and conservation—not corporate profits for fossil fuel and other extractive industries.

To build enduring approaches to managing our shared lands, we will continue to follow the lead of Tribes, communities of color, working-class and frontline communities—those directly impacted by fossil fuel extraction on public lands—and others who continue to be excluded from public lands decision making.

Alongside communities, our partners, and supporters like you, we will press the Biden administration to begin a rapid phase-out of fossil fuel development on public lands, while ensuring a just transition to a sustainable economy for fossil fuel-dependent states and localities.

We will help communities choose the best sites for responsibly expanding renewable energy, thereby boosting local economies and generating revenue streams for state and local governments.

And we will continue to conserve and protect carbon storage champs like our national forests.

Yet for too long—and despite Indigenous communities’ pleas to protect this landscape—the federal government has thrown much of it open to fossil fuel extraction.

Ninetyone percent of available lands in the Greater Chaco region are already leased for oil and gas development.

The impact of this is not only pollution that threatens the historical site and the health of nearby Tribal communities, but also emissions that threaten the future of our shared planet.

But with the leadership and advocacy of Tribal communities and the partnership your support makes possible, we helped secure a breakthrough years in the making.

In 20-year withdrawal of federal lands within a 10-mile radius around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, ensuring no new oil and gas leasing or development will take place.

For far too long, too many have lacked easy access to nature and healthy outdoor activities—especially those who experience outsized burdens and challenges to their well-being.

Today, communities of color are three times more likely to live in nature-deprived areas, and low-income communities have significantly less access to nature than the rest of the country.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

By fighting alongside local communities for park equity funds that provide outdoor access to all, we are working to address historical injustices.

Together we can set a new precedent for equitable access to public lands that everyone can get to, feel welcome in and benefit from.

In the face of inequity, your support is helping to build a just tomorrow.

With your support, The Wilderness Society contributed to two major state-level victories in a new level of equitable outdoor access, but also set a model for other states and for future national legislation.

In New Mexico, we supported a state-wide coalition that tripled the funding for the nation’s first state-level Outdoor Equity Fund, which provides grants to increase access to the outdoors for youth of color and youth living in low-income areas.

In Colorado, we helped power a coalition of roughly organizations led by or representing Black, Indigenous or people of color—to secure the creation of a new Outdoor Equity Grant Program.

This program establishes a dedicated funding source that will ramp up to $experiences for youth and their families living in underserved communities.

For decades, the Bullitt Foundation has been helping to lead the Pacific Northwest’s pursuit of a greener future, supporting efforts to conserve lands and waters, promote sustainable communities, and center racial equity and justice in the environmental movement.

The goal is to connect the vibrant ecosystems of the North Cascades—from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver, British Columbia.

It is critical to ensure that this landscape flourishes, while also creating ways for city dwellers to reach and experience the wildlands.

But in order to protect the region’s iconic peaks, ancient forests and waters, alongside its recreation values, the foundation was looking for a partner that understood the complexities of bridging the urban to wild divide.

“It wasn’t easy to find groups willing to embrace the big, complex challenges of connecting urban communities to wildlands, including understanding and addressing the deep racial inequities in access to nature,” says Denis.

But The Wilderness Society had demonstrated the ability to do just that through our Urban to Wild program in Los Angeles, California—and expanding to Seattle was a natural next step.

Always seeking to be a catalyst for change, The Bullitt Foundation stepped forward with a grant to launch Urban to Wild in Seattle.

For Senior Program Officer Steve Whitney, a Wilderness Society alum, it was a no brainer.

“Although The Wilderness Society didn’t have a history of engagement in Seattle’s urban neighborhoods, they are trusted for their collaborative approach, their deep policy and science expertise, and their effective advocacy efforts,” he says.