Program Details
Western Wilderness Conference 2010
For detailed descriptions of all of our terrific the workshops, including presenters and workshop content, please see the below, organized by each day of the conference.
THURSDAY
4PM – 7:30 PM
- Registration Opens
- Early registration, networking
- The Wild West: A True Western, film by Doug Prose. Background film from 4 – 6pm.
- Forever Wild film showing and presentation by film producer and director Chelsea Congdon of First Light Films. Film screening at 6 pm. Questions and answers at 7 pm.
8:00 Registration Opens and Continental Breakfast
9:00 Welcome and Conference Opening (West Pauley)
Introduction: Kristi Davis, California Wilderness Coalition; Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club; and Megan Miller, Senator Boxer’s office
9:15 – 10:15 Plenary Presentation
Title: Wilderness History: The Roots of Successful Public Land Protection (West Pauley)
Presenters: Doug Scott, The PEW Charitable Trust, Campaign for America’s Wilderness; Mike McCloskey, The Sierra Club; and Polly Dyer
Description: Join Mike McCloskey and Doug Scott, two conservation leaders who worked on the original Wilderness Act of 1964, for a lively look at how far we have come in the work of wilderness. Mike McCloskey’s special focus will be Wilderness on the World Scene since the late 20th Century—pointing out the hard work it took to get wilderness to be accepted internationally as a legitimate type of land protection. Polly Dyer, a leader in wilderness protection, will discuss the history of wilderness conferences. Together, these leaders share their historical perspective and the lessons of how grassroots wilderness protection campaigns succeed in the 21st Century. Brief remarks from Congressman Sam Farr at end of plenary session.
10:15-10:45 Networking Break
FRIDAY Session A – 10:45 – Noon
Workshop Title: Climate Change and Wilderness: How Wild Lands and Ecosystems will Respond and Evolve in a Changing Climate (West Pauley)
Moderator: Todd Sanford, University of Colorado
Panelists: John Harte, UC Berkeley; Laurie Wayburn, Pacific Forest Trust; and Scott Loarie, Stanford University.
Description: In this session, John Harte will focus on the science behind the predicted impending mass extinction; Laurie Wayburn on carbon sequestration in forests; and Scott Loarie on how land use and climate change impact biodiversity and how this can be applied toward reserve design.
Workshop Title: Economic Benefits of Wilderness (Tan Oak)
Moderator: Michelle Haefele, The Wilderness Society
Panelists: John Sterling, the Conservation Alliance; Paul Smith, Twenty-Nine Palms Inn & California Wilderness Coalition Board member; and Brook Shinsky, The North Face.
Description: Wilderness does more than provide wildlife habitat, primitive outdoor recreation, and solitude – economists have found that it’s actually good for your local economy. Business owners and local officials describe how wilderness has been beneficial for them, their business and their communities.
Workshop Title: Wilderness Explained - Everything You Need to Know about the Wilderness Act (Tilden)
Presenter: Gordon Johnson, (Ventana Wilderness Alliance).
Description: Using historic paintings and photographs, this multimedia presentation sketches the roots of our National Wilderness Preservation System and focuses on understanding the Wilderness Act of 1964. The stewardship of our wilderness areas as it relates to the Wilderness Act is also reviewed. (Repeated on Saturday, Session C)
Workshop Title: The Campaign for America’s Redrock Wilderness (Madrone)
Presenters: Clayton Daughenbaugh, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; and Mike Painter, Californians for Western Wilderness.
Description: Over the last 25 years, the campaign to protect Utah’s Redrock wilderness has made great strides, including: the introduction of America’s Redrock Wilderness Act (the Utah Wilderness Coalition’s 9.4 million acre citizens’ proposal); a growing number of co-sponsors in Congress; defense of the lands against degradation; broad public support; and recently, an inspiring hearing in Congress. Now, county-based proposals present new opportunities and challenges. The workshop will describe current issues and strategy.
Workshop Title: Wilderness Lost: What We Must Do To Rescue The Wilderness System (Stephens Lounge)
Presenters: Jonathan Dettman and George Nickas, Wilderness Watch.
Description: In 2001 the Pinchot Institute for Conservation reported, "The four wilderness agencies and their leaders must make a strong commitment to wilderness stewardship before the Wilderness System is lost.” Today, however, Wilderness continues to become more motorized, developed and crowded, and less wild. None of the agencies has any systematic wilderness-monitoring program in place to determine the amount of degradation occurring. And many feel that Congress is ignoring its responsibility to oversee the agencies' wilderness stewardship practices. Learn about the challenges facing the Wilderness system and what you can do to help.
Lunch Break: 12:00 -1:00
Box lunches available for purchase in addition to conference registration fee
FRIDAY Session B – 1:05 – 2:20
Workshop Title: The Wilderness of Public Sentiment and the Trammels of Public Law (West Pauley)
Presenter: Christopher Arthur, retired Congressional staff
Description: Discussions will cover the paradox of needing to use a highly structured, very social, and completely human process to preserve the wild and natural, and exploring the wilderness of public opinion and legislation.
Workshop Title: Media Outreach: Communicating about Your Wilderness Campaign (East Pauley)
Presenters: Brian Geiger, The PEW Charitable Trust, CAW; and Laurel Williams, California Wilderness Coalition
Description: This workshop will discuss tips for getting to know your audience and how to reach them.
Workshop Title: How Do We Protect Wildlife in Wilderness in the Context of Climate Change? (Tan Oak)
Presenters: Pete Frost, Western Environmental Law Center; and Dave Graber, National Park Service.
Description: Presenters will discuss whether it is appropriate or advisable to build structures or to take other affirmative steps to assist wildlife species in wilderness, which may otherwise experience declines or harm in the context of climate change.
Workshop Title: Marine Wilderness: Protecting Wilderness Values on the Other 70% of the Planet (Tilden)
Presenters: Cyril Kormos, WILD Foundation; Jackie Dragon, Pacific Environment; Nancy Roeper, Fish & Wildlife Service; and Daniel Palacios, NOAA Fisheries Service.
Description: The critical importance of protecting large areas of the planet’s oceans has emerged as a top priority in the face of rapid global environmental change. But is the “wilderness” concept relevant in a marine context? Can developing a new marine wilderness protected areas mechanism boost marine conservation efforts?
Workshop Title: Wilderness Issues on Alaska's Protected Parks and Unprotected Wild Public Lands (Stephens Lounge)
Presenters: Judy Alderson, National Park Service; and Dan Ritzman, Sierra Club.
Description: This session will discuss how scientific research in Alaska’s national parks related to global concerns about climate change interfaces with the legal mandate to conduct a minimum requirements analysis in designated wilderness (approximately 60% of Alaska national parklands). Also discussed will be the contrast of management issues in these protected areas with the need to protect Alaska’s public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In the new Administration we could protect up to 28 million acres of new Wilderness in Alaska.
Workshop Title: Communications Strategy: Planning for Success (Madrone)
Presenter: Kim Johnson, Spitfire Strategies.
Description: Kim Johnson gives you an overview of Spitfire Strategies’ Smart ChartTM – a communications planning tool that offers a practical approach to developing communications programs by guiding you through the choices that must be made to put a successful plan in place. Requiring you to lead with strategy rather than tactics, the Smart Chart will help you make and assess your strategic decisions to ensure that your communications efforts deliver high impact results. (Repeated on Friday afternoon, Session C).
Friday Session C – 2:30 – 3:45
Workshop Title: Working with the Federal Wilderness Agencies (West Pauley)
Moderator: Jim Eaton, Founder, California Wilderness Coalition.
Panelists: Chris Brown, Forest Service; Garry Oye, National Park Service; Nancy Roeper, Fish & Wildlife Service; and Dave Harmon, Bureau of Land Management.
Description: Agency representatives discuss questions like: joint site stewardship projects, “presenting” wilderness to the public as a positive value, how to attract young people to parks and other wild places, and coping with new challenges such as ecosystem changes due to climate change and other causes.
Workshop Title: Building Resources For Your Organization In A Time Of Change (East Pauley)
Moderator: Kristi Davis, Executive Director, California Wilderness Coalition.
Panelists: Don Weeden, Executive Director, Weeden Foundation; and Cathy Lerza, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Tides Foundation and Director of California Wildlands Grassroots Fund.
Description: Research has demonstrated a downward turn in philanthropic giving. This workshop will provide an overview of what you can do to survive, thrive, and succeed in sustaining your nonprofit during the current economic crisis. The panelists will provide tools, tips and best practices to help wilderness advocates and/or nonprofits adapt their fundraising methods and strategies in the current economy. The workshop will also assist you in crafting your personal wilderness story to ensure funders understand the importance and relevance of wilderness and wilderness preservation!
Workshop Title: Pacific Northwest Campaigns—Oregon’s Siskiyou Crest and Washington Campaigns (Tan Oak)
Presenters: Laurel Sutherlin, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center; Don Parks and Harry Romberg, Sierra Club.
Description: The Siskiyou Crest on the Oregon/California state border stretches east to west through the center of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, long recognized as a global hotspot for biological diversity. Learn about the growing campaign to protect and restore this unusual and enchanting landscape that climate scientists call a crucial conservation priority. In Washington State, although the Puget Sound region has a substantial core of federally protected areas, the long term health of its salmon populations and other wildlife species depends on other lands in a variety of ownership classes. This campaign will address the ecological health of the region in a climate change environment.
Workshop Title: Legal Tools for Protecting Wild Lands: The Role of Litigation in Protecting Wild Lands and Species at Risk (Tilden)
Presenter: Lisa Belenky, Center for Biological Diversity.
Description: A suite of environmental laws can be utilized to achieve the goals of protecting species and habitats as well as other values and resources of our remaining wild lands. This workshop will look at a few of these laws including the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). We will review some of the legal basics and provide recent examples of how litigation has been used to help protect wild lands including wilderness quality lands that are not (yet) protected as "wilderness."
Workshop Title: Communications Strategy: Planning for Success (Madrone)
Presenter: Kim Johnson, Spitfire Strategies
Description: Kim Johnson gives you an overview of Spitfire Strategies’ Smart ChartTM – a communications planning tool that offers a practical approach to developing communications programs by guiding you through the choices that must be made to put a successful plan in place. Requiring you to lead with strategy rather than tactics, the Smart Chart will help you make and assess your strategic decisions to ensure that your communications efforts deliver high impact results. (Repeated from Friday afternoon, Session B)
Workshop Title: How to Inventory for New Wilderness Areas (Stephens Lounge)
Presenters: Jim Catlin, Wild Utah Project; and Gordon Johnson, California Wilderness Project.
Description: Based on lessons from decades of legislation and agency roadless area inventories, a volunteer offers valuable information about which places should be designated as wilderness. This session will share the How-To’s of visiting an area, photographing, and documenting its naturalness and any impacts, and recommending boundaries using new computer-assisted techniques.
3:45-4:10 Networking Break
Friday Session D – 4:10 – 5:25
Workshop Title: Science Informing Conservation--Ecological Research of Three UC Berkeley PhD Students (West Pauley)
Presenters: Sheri Spiegal, Kevin Krasnow and Eric Waller, U.C. Berkeley, Environmental Management and Policy Department.
Description: UC Berkeley ecology students are working to understand natural systems in the West in order to grant them the value and protection they deserve. Three PhD students from the Environmental Science, Policy and Management Department will describe their research and how it will inform land conservation. You’ll hear about fire ecology in the Sierra Nevada, rangeland ecology of southern California's Tejon Ranch, and drivers of vegetation distribution across diverse California.
Workshop Title: Organizing 101: How to Build Grassroots Support for Wilderness (Tan Oak)
Presenter: Laurel Williams, California Wilderness Coalition.
Description: A multi media look at the basic principles of organizing and how to apply them for successful wilderness campaigns. Hear and learn from wilderness organizers from around the West about past and present wilderness campaigns. (Repeated on Saturday Session B).
Workshop Title: Protecting Wildlands from Off-Road Vehicle Damage: Lessons from Forest and Desert Lands (Tilden)
Presenters: Karl Forsgaard, Sierra Club; and Howard Wilshire, Board Chair, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Description: Washington’s new Wild Sky Wilderness borders on a State Forest where off-road vehicles (ORVs) had been destroying trees and streambeds (and even trespassing into Wild Sky), until local activists stepped in and demanded an end. Learn how they persuaded the State to significantly reduce ORV use at Reiter Forest. In addition, learn how the National Forest ORV Travel Management process currently underway nationwide affects forested ecosystems. Our deserts are often called fragile and slow to recover from damage. What have we learned about recovery from ORV damage when we just close an area and let nature work or when we attempt to assist nature? Can we always anticipate how the landscape responds to the changes made by ORV use?
Workshop Title: Conversation With Congressional Staff: How You Can Help Us (Madrone)
Moderator: Athan Manuel, Sierra Club.
Panelists: Christy Goldfuss, House of Representatives Natural Resource Committee; and Chris Carrillo Senator Feinstein California staff.
Description: At some stage in wild lands protection campaigns, advocates work closely with Congressional staff. Hear some pointers from experienced staff on how this work can be easier and more effective all around.
Workshop Title: Wild & Scenic Rivers and Wilderness Campaigns (Stephens Lounge)
Presenter: Steve Evans, Friends of the River.
Description: Including Wild & Scenic Rivers in wilderness campaigns is a successful strategy for activists and organizations. This briefing will show activists how the combined strategy has worked in California over the past four years to protect more than 125 miles of Wild Rivers along with more than a million acres of Wilderness--and how it can be applied throughout the West. Wild & Scenic River campaigns in other western states will be explored.
Workshop Title: Experiencing Wild Places: Wilderness Access — Without a Car (Douglas Fir)
Presenter: Bob McLaughlin, Sierra Club.
Description: You’ve been hearing much about how to work for preserving wilderness, but how do you actually get out there into the wilds to experience and enjoy these special places--especially without a car?
Reception 5:30 – 8:30 (Pauley Ballroom)
5:30 – 8:30 Reception with appetizers and a no host bar. Reception registration available for purchase in addition to conference registration fee
Reception Entertainment:
6:00 – 7:00 Musical performance and multimedia show with Walkin Jim Stoltz. Jim is a long-distance hiker, adventurer, author, painter, photographer, poet, wilderness activist, musician, songwriter, and troubadour for the Earth. He has walked over 28,000 miles in the wilderness and will entertain with songs and photos from his journeys."With a rich voice that sounds as deep as some of the canyons he's walked, he's sung of mountain lions, grizzly bears, the coyote, and other critters. Great stories, good songs, and fun sing-a-longs." – Variety
7:00 – 7:15Bureau of Land Management Presentation with Jim Abbott, introduced by Ryan Henson, California Wilderness Coalition
7:15 – 8:30 I See Hawks in L.A. was formed in 1999 by Rob Waller and brothers Paul and Anthony Lacques during a philosophical discussion and rock throwing session on an East Mojave desert trek. Their first CD established the Hawks signature sound: high lonesome three part harmonies, twang guitar and unadorned acoustic arrangements, with lyrics musing on mortality, whales, and the geography of pre-apocalyptic L.A. Come see why L.A. Weekly awarded them the Best Country Artist awards in 2002 and 2003! Performing with Tony Gilkyson (live link to http://www.tonygilkyson.com/).
8:00 Registration Opens and Continental Breakfast
9:00 Conference Opening: Kristi Davis, California Wilderness Coalition; Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club; Welcome on behalf of City of Berkeley, by Vice Mayor Linda Maio (West Pauley)
9:15 – 10:20 Presentation Plenary: Freedom to Roam (West Pauley)
Presenter: Rick Ridgeway, Patagonia.
Description: Freedom to Roam is Patagonia’s big quest to save North America's iconic wild animals—grizzlies, caribou, wolverines, and others—from extinction due to climate change, or other threats like sprawling development. The idea that in order to survive, big animals require hundreds of miles of interconnected, undisturbed habitat started with conservation biologist Michael Soulé. Ridgeway and Patagonia want to turn "migratory corridors" into a household expression and in the process fundamentally change the way Americans think about wilderness.
Saturday Session A – 10:45 – Noon
Workshop Title: Wilderness and the Arts (West Pauley)
Moderated: Ann Ronald, author.
Panelists: Tom Killion, printmaker; Mary Austin Klein, painter and California Wilderness Coalition (CWC) Board member; Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, musician; Sam Roberts, photographer and CWC Board member; Heather Anderson, Art Educator Sierra Club; Rob Waller and Paul Lacques, I See Hawks in L.A.
Description: Environmentalists have not always seized on the potential of the arts to advocate for wild places and to win new enthusiasts for wilderness. Different types of artists explore a wealth of possibilities.
Workshop Title: Inspiring a Love for Nevada's Wilderness (Tan Oak)
Presenters: Sharon K. Schafer, Skydance Studio; Brian Beffort and Wes Hoskins, Friends of Nevada Wilderness.
Description: We all know wilderness needs no defense, only more defenders. But how do we inspire people to act in defense of the wild? Sharon Schafer's show, "The Art of Nature: Images from the Wildlands of Southern Nevada," will tantalize audiences with the little known and often undervalued natural wonders Nevada has to offer. Brian Beffort and Wes Hoskins will discuss current wilderness campaigns in Nevada, as well as their effort to win "hearts and minds" through volunteer stewardship trips.
Workshop Title:How Conservation, Restoration, and Indigenous Peoples Can Work Together to Address Climate Change (Tilden)
Presenter: Dennis Martinez, Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network.
Description: Conservation works best if it is integrated with ecological and biocultural restoration. Indigenous peoples are critical to both in protected areas, and they are more cost-effective in conservation efforts than are environmental NGOs.
Workshop Title: Protecting the Spine of the Continent Wildway — Creating a Western Wildway© from Mexico to Alaska (Madrone)
Presenters: Kenyon Fields, The Wildlands Network; and Stephen Capra, New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.
Description: Wildlands Network will present an overview of the Spine of the Continent Initiative -- an ambitious partnership effort to create a network of connected, protected lands from northern Mexico through the American and Canadian Rockies to Alaska, and to repopulate these lands with keystone species. Kenyon Fields will emphasize the southern section of the Initiative, and Steve Capra of New Mexico Wilderness Alliance will outline their campaigns to achieve new wilderness cores in the Sky Islands and New Mexico Highlands regions of the Spine of the Continent. We will also present a GIS-based review of connectivity-conservation progress in this tri-national region.
Workshop Title: Wild Versus Wall: Blocking Wildlife and Destroying Wilderness in the Name of Border Security (Stephens Lounge) Presenter: Dan Millis, Sierra Club.
Description: Much of the American public is unaware of the devastation being caused by harmful U.S. trade and border policies. The most symbolic and destructive infrastructure is the newly constructed U.S.-Mexico border wall. The film, "Wild Versus Wall," shows the ecological and damaging social effects of enforcement and infrastructure in the four states that share boundaries with Mexico and stresses the importance of addressing root causes such as unfair trade policies and quality of life issues.
Lunch Break: 12:00 -1:00
Box lunches available for purchase in addition to conference registration fee
Saturday Session B – 1:05 – 2:20
Workshop Title: The Campaign for the California Desert: Then and Now (West Pauley)
Presenter: Monica Argandoña, California Wilderness Coalition (CWC); Jim Dodson, Sierra Club and CWC; and Chris Carrillo, Senator Feinstein California staff.
Description: The desert, fully one quarter of California, has been a battleground for vying interests and a focus of wild lands preservation advocates since the 1970s. The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 was a huge victory for wilderness supporters, but the fight for the California desert is far from over.
Workshop Title: Children and the Nature Movement and the Natural Leaders’ Network: The youth voice in the movement to connect with nature, and Building Bridges to the Outdoors (East Pauley)
Presenters: Juan D. Martinez, Natural Leaders Network; and Tiffany Saleh, Sierra Club.
Description: A new generation is coming to power. Born between 1978 and 2000, this generation is now 95 million strong. In 2016, they will become the largest voting bloc in American history. The Natural Leaders Network, an initiative of the Children & Nature Network, explains how youth are rising to health, economic, educational, and global challenges through collaborative efforts. To assure this young generation is well grounded in nature, Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors program is dedicated to increasing and improving opportunities for underserved youth to connect with the outdoors. Reconnecting youth with nature will inspire the next generation to a healthier, happier, greener future.
Workshop Title: Engaging Diverse Communities in Wilderness Preservation (Tan Oak)
Presenter: Juana Torres, Sierra Club; Marisa Calderon, California Wilderness Coalition; and Mark Starr, Vote Vets Foundation.
Description: The ecosystems of the National Wilderness Preservation System are as diverse as the many cultures and communities represented throughout the United States. During this workshop participants will have an opportunity to identify strategies for engaging some of the varied stakeholder communities within California. The workshop includes a panel discussion with specific strategies currently used to engage non-traditional allies in Wilderness preservation.
Workshop Title: Organizing 101: How to Build Grassroots Support for Wilderness (Tilden)
Presenter: Laurel Williams, California Wilderness Coalition.
Description: A multi-media look at the basic principles of organizing and how to apply them for successful wilderness campaigns. Hear and learn from wilderness organizers from around the West about past and present wilderness campaigns. (Repeat from Friday session D).
Workshop Title: The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative: An Appropriate Response to Climate Change (Madrone)
Presenter: Wendy Francis, Y2Y.
Description: Y2Y is an ambitious undertaking to create a network of linked protected areas and wildlife corridors up the 2000-mile spine of the North American Rocky Mountains. The workshop reviews Y2Y’s programs and successes and describes how the interconnected network essential to climate adaptation is being knit together.
Workshop Title: New Media – Utilizing Web 2.0 (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as Conservation Advocacy Tools (Stephens Lounge)
Presenter: Deanna Lloyd, Conservation Next, and The Forest Group; and Emily Nuchols, Undersolen Media.
Description: A lot has been written about Web 2.0, or the social web, to communicate and share information. How do you use the power of the web to spread information and have virtual conversations with your supporters? Learn how to leverage social media as a wilderness advocacy tool. This workshop will provide you with hands-on learning and provide you with tools and techniques to create awareness, catalyze civic action, and cultivate new supporters and donors for wilderness conservation.
Saturday Session C – 2:30 – 3:45
Workshop Title: Building Resilient Habitats to Protect Wilderness from Climate Change (West Pauley)
Presenter: Bruce Hamilton, Sierra Club.
Description: Every existing wilderness and every potential wilderness is at risk due to climate change. We can no longer guarantee that wilderness areas will be unimpaired for present and future generations. We must act now to build resistance and resilience to climate change into the wilderness system. This talk is a primer on how we can build Resilient Habitats to reduce the vulnerability of our wild heritage.
Workshop Title: Working with Congress and the Administration (East Pauley)
Presenters: Jim Mathews, The PEW Charitable Trust, CAW; Paul Spitler, The Wilderness Society; Myke Bybee, and Lynn Ryan, Sierra Club.
Description: Once all the hard work is done by local and state groups “on-the-ground” developing a wilderness campaign, the road for getting a bill introduced and shepherded through the federal legislative process takes many twists and turns. To ensure the legislation is not detoured along the way requires a Washington presence knowledgeable of the Hill and Executive Branch---operating with persistence, patience, and flexibility, and working closely with the in-state supporters of the proposal. Learn about the legislative process, how Washington government affairs representatives work and the challenges they face, and how you can ensure your proposal has the best chance of being successfully enacted into law.
Workshop Title: Preserving Wildlife in the Greater Grand Canyon Wilderness Ecosystem (Tan Oak)
Presenter: Kim Crumbo, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council.
Description: Since its establishment as a national park in 1919, the Grand Canyon has lost 26 native vertebrate species (including wolves, jaguars, and 12 fish) due to habitat fragmentation, predator extermination, degradation of surrounding lands and construction of Glen Canyon Dam 15 miles upstream. A number of landscape-scale conservation initiatives address these problems, including a regional Wildlands Network Design, together with our 2.5 million-acre Greater Grand Canyon wilderness designation strategy discussed in this presentation.
Workshop Title: Wilderness Explained – Everything You Need to Know About the Wilderness Act (Tilden)
Presenter: Gordon Johnson, California Wilderness Project.
Description: Using historic paintings and photographs, this multimedia presentation sketches the roots of our National Wilderness Preservation System and focuses on understanding the Wilderness Act of 1964. The stewardship of our wilderness areas as it relates to the wilderness act is also reviewed. (Repeated from Friday session A)
Workshop Title: Backpack Geography - Integrating GIS in to Wilderness Outings (Madrone)
Presenter: Julia Kernitz, California Wilderness Coalition.
Description: This workshop will explore how free and available GIS (Geographic Information Systems) tools can be used to collect data during trips in wilderness areas. Be part of a vast network of backpack geographers by contributing data on existing and potential wilderness areas that can be used for wilderness support and protection.
Workshop Title: Conversations withHigh School Students About the Future of Wilderness Conservation (Stephens Lounge)
Presenters: Joaquin Navas, James Wiley, and Tyler Jolley, EarthTeam Environmental Network Green Screen crew members; Angela Tomczik; and Ivy Binns, California Wilderness Coalition.
Description: Panelists will take part in a conversation about their conservation efforts, their experiences in wilderness, and the future of wilderness conservation.
3:45-4:10 Networking Break
Saturday Session D – 4:10 – 5:25
Workshop Title: Youth Service and Stewardship Projects (West Pauley)
Moderator: Ryan Henson, California Wilderness Coalition.
Presenters: Jay Watson, Student Conservation Association; Sarah Steele Wilson, Student Conservation Association Intern; and Samantha Krause, Southwest Colorado Conservation Corps.
Description: This presentation will outline how the Student Conservation Association works with federal agencies and non-profit organizations to provide student interns and youth crews to do essential wilderness restoration throughout California. Sarah Steele Wilson will describe restoration projects within the Mendocino National Forest that she and other interns are managing and efforts to recruit volunteers to assist with this work. Jay Watson will talk about SCA's overall wilderness restoration stewardship efforts in California and beyond. Sam Krause will highlight her work with young people’s wilderness restoration projects.
Workshop Title: The Berryessa Snow Mountain National Conservation Area Campaign for Climate Change Adaptation (East Pauley)
Presenters: Bob Schneider and Vallerye Anderson, Tuleyome.
Description: The Berryessa Snow Mountain region, in the Inner Coast Range north of the Bay Area and west of Sacramento, contains over 470,000 acres of public lands managed by over 10 different federal, state and local entities. An NCA designation will protect the region’s incredible biodiversity with a cohesive management system responding to climate change, as part of the Bureau of Land Management National Landscape Conservation System.
Workshop Title: Engaging Communities of Faith in Wilderness Stewardship (Tan Oak)
Moderator: Terri Martin, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Presenters: Jordan Blevins, National Council of Churches; Ben Meyers, Berkeley Unitarian Universalists; and Clayton Daughenbaugh, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Description: Many people deeply value wilderness as a place of spiritual renewal and connection, suggesting a natural –and potentially very powerful--alliance between people of faith and environmental activists. This workshop will explore how wilderness activists can effectively engage with communities of faith in the call for “wilderness stewardship” and why existing efforts are having an impact.
Workshop Title: Integrating Management of Sierra Nevada Wilderness and Surrounding Lands (Tilden)
Presenters: Joan Clayburgh and Marion Gee, Sierra Nevada Alliance.
Description: The Sierra Nevada Alliance works to protect and restore Sierra lands, water, wildlife, and rural communities by educating and motivating people to take action on climate change. Climate smart management of surrounding public and private lands can help protect wilderness areas. This workshop will focus on the Alliance's work to leverage existing planning processes to integrate key issues and will explore how these models, climate smart plans and projects will benefit surrounding Sierra wildernesses.
Workshop Title: The “Rest of the West” (Madrone)
Presenters: George Wuerthner, Foundation for Deep Ecology; Will Roush, Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign; Buffalo Bruce and Heather Morijah, Sierra Club.
Description: This session will discuss some magnificent wild areas that deserve preservation in other states- Areas from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and across the Rocky Mountains to the Great Plains will be highlighted.
Workshop Title: Grassroots Organizing for National Parks in the Digital Age (Stephens Lounge)
Presenters: Susan Tixier and Erica Rosenberg, People United for Parks.
Description: People United for Parks’ (P.U.P.) new national campaign seeks to translate the desire of the American public for more National Parks into action by decision-makers in Washington and elsewhere--using old-fashioned face to face grassroots organizing enhanced by new technology. The workshop will discuss the known and possible pros and cons of “groots-tech” organizing to expand our Park System and will touch on using grassroots pressure also to achieve more wilderness protection in our parks.
RECEPTION (Pauley Ballroom)
5:30 to 6:30 Reception with appetizers and a no host bar; Reception registration available for purchase in addition to conference registration fee
Reception Panel:
6:30 – 7:45 Special Featured Panel: Books in the Wilderness
Moderator: Malcolm Margolin, Author and Founder of Heyday Books and Heyday Institute.
Panelists: Kimi Kodani Hill, Ruth Nolan, Tim Palmer, and Ken Brower.
Description: Wallace Stegner once commented: "No place, not even a wild place, is a place until it has had that human attention that at its highest reach we call poetry." From the writings of John Muir, the photographs of Ansel Adams, dozens of magazines, and the work of exemplary publishers, books and literature have long brought the power, beauty, and necessity of wilderness to a wider audience. In this panel, four dynamic and entertaining authors share their experiences and their passions.
8:00 Registration Opens and Continental Breakfast
Conference Opening: Kristi Davis, California Wilderness Coalition; Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club (West Pauley)
9:00 – 10:00 Plenary Presentation: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: A Symbol for a Time of Global Change (West Pauley)
Presenter: Roger Kaye, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Description: Olaus Murie, leader of the contentious 1950s campaign to establish the Arctic Refuge, said, “The real problem” behind the controversy was the larger question “of what the human species is to do with this earth.” This 50th anniversary presentation explores the motivation of those who fought to preserve this “Last Great Wilderness” and how, as intended, it has become a symbolic landscape.
10:00 – 10:50
Plenary Presentation: Wilderness Stewardship Challenges in BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System (West Pauley)
Presenter: Carl Rountree, Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Description: The Wilderness Program is the largest component of BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System, and as new areas are designated, the agency is faced with growing stewardship management responsibilities--to preserve the character of all Wilderness Areas, as well as to maintain suitability for all its Wilderness Study Areas. Citizens have many opportunities to assist BLM in protecting America’s wilderness heritage.
11:00 am – 11:50
Closing Plenary Presentation: Rewilding North America (West Pauley)
Presenter: Dave Foreman, The Rewilding Institute, and Founder of EarthFirst!
Description: Besides talking about a North American Wildlands Network, Dave Foreman will go into the true meaning of wilderness--self-willed land and an evolutionary ethic of valuing and protecting other Earthlings (species) for their own sakes.
11:50 – 12:00
Conference Closing: Kristi Davis, California Wilderness Coalition; Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club
Followed by Afternoon Outings
* All program items are subject to change