WILD

WILD10: Save the date!

WILD10, The 10th World Wilderness Congress , Salamanca, Spain, 4-10 October 2013! The WILD10 process is well underway in Europe. The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (newly reconstituted) is the national host,  having provided some of the start-up funds allowing the WILD10 Executive Committee to continue  the collaborative process  that started in 2011 to identify practical objectives, create partnerships and design a process to achieve them, and implement a program for the Congress itself. Read More

Free WILD9 publication now available for download

WILD9 technical proceedings,  Science and Stewardship to Protect and Sustain Wilderness—9th World Wilderness Congress (Mexico, 2009) are now available for no charge by download or order form! Read More

Science & Stewardship to Protect Wilderness Values

The Science & Stewardship Symposium was a core part of WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress (2009, Mexico). One outcome of the symposium is a free, online publication which compiles proceedings of the symposium (also available in print).  The symposium and the proceedings were lead by our colleagues at the US Forest Service, specifically Alan Watson, Joaquin Murrieta-Saldiva and Brooke McBride. Read More

Exploring Wilderness, Reflections on Body Painting

The landscape of the human body is a “wilderness” in its own right. For longer than anything else created by wild nature, the bodyscape has been a place of exploration and a source of continuous experiential revelation, as well as an object of adornment, abuse, and worship. Yet it remains a mystery…no amount of exploring the body has yet satisfied us that we finally know it. We always return to it, to ponder and pod, caress and consider. Maybe this is because each body is distinctly unique, and therefore just like wilderness…always a mystery, always ... Read More

Report from the WILD9 Strategy Forum: Transboundary Environments and Adaptation to Climate Change

Wherever political boundaries traverse ecosystems, the conservation of biodiversity and management of ecosystems is more complex and difficult. In areas with such borders, the flow of information tends to be slower, administrative regimes are more fractured, decisions are more delayed—often executed with little or no coherence—and responsibilities, masked. Furthermore, as a changing climate alters species distributions and ecosystem processes—for example, those that straddle the U.S.–Mexico and U.S.–Canada borders in North America—the inherent difficulties of transboundary conservation and management also are likely to limit the adaptability of human and natural systems to such changes. Read More

Action for Mexico’s Water Forest

On 12 July, land owners conservationists, government authorities, national and international conservation organizations, scientists and business owners met to address the complex and highly urgent task of protecting, restoring and sustainably managing the Water Forest.  With over 70 participants, this first meeting of the "Think Tank" group was highly successful. Developing a long-term conservation plan for The Water Forest (Bosque de Agua) is extremely important for Mexico -- the forested region provides water and other vital environmental services to a fifth of Mexico’s total population. Currently, the region is threatened by urban sprawl, land-use changes and illegal logging.  A concerted conservation ... Read More

US President Obama and Mexican President Calderon announce Transboundary Protected Area

On May 19, in a significant step towards the first “peace park” between Mexico and the United States, protecting important transboundary wildlands, President of Mexico Felipe Calderon visited Washington DC and, with US President Barack Obama, made the following official announcement: The Presidents noted the long history of bilateral cooperation in the conservation of natural and cultural resources. They recognized that Big Bend National Park and Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in the United States and the Protected Areas of Maderas del Carmen, Cañon de Santa Elena, Ocampo, and Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico together comprise ... Read More

Updated Blogroll

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've updated our Blogroll to include some really great new(er) blogs from our friends and partners!  Here's a quick overview: Tierra Silvestre - A fantastic new blog by Ana Domínguez Pérez, who worked with WILD and Unidos para la Conservacion on WILD9.  Ana is continuing the momentum built during WILD9 for "Tierras Silvestre" in Mexico, posting news and information in Spanish.  She says: "For me, the Wilderness are the reason to understand where we come from and where we should go." The Nature Files - Morgan Heim, Trustee of WILD, emerging member of the iLCP ... Read More

Collectors Item from the 1st World Wilderness Congress

Today, I received something very cool in my email inbox.  With hints of your mom's old signed yearbook, this scan of the program from the 1st World Wilderness Congress (1977, South Africa) is most definitely a collectors edition.  Click through the slide-show below to see the program, and photos and signatures from all of the main participants/speakers. With 2,500 delegates from 27 countries, the 1st WWC: Introduced the wilderness concept as an international issue of importance, whereas formerly it had been only an issue of Western cultures; Presented programs for integrating cultures and races around the world in nature conservation; Incorporated economics and ... Read More

International League of Conservation Writers site now live

The International League of Conservation Writers is a forum to bring writers together from all over the world who are writing to promote wilderness, nature, conservation, and other means to protect and restore the natural areas, habitats, animals, and plants of our planet. ILCW will present periodic writing awards to authors who excel in this field. Formed at WILD9, the 9th World Wilderness Congress (Merida, Mexico 6-13 November 2009) during the Writer's Seminars, the ILCW has a growing list of founding fellow and members.  There are 3 levels for membership: Read More