Explore Voices for Wilderness
Peter Gebhard | Coupeville, WA
“We must protect our wild places at all costs. For without them we will surely lose ourselves as well.”
Naomi Serio | Bend, OR
Watch a video of Naomi discussing how she came to understand how important wild places are to our collective well-being.
Genevieve King | Missoula, MT
Watch Genevieve’s video recording reflecting on why wilderness matters to her.
Evans Primus Jr. | Waycross, GA
“For our Gullah Geechee descendant community, wild places like the North End of Cumberland Island, Georgia, are not just empty nature—they are living sanctuaries of memory, heritage, and ancestral resilience.”
Laura Bishop | Camas, WA
“The federal lands belong to the people. Not the government, not any political administration, and not any special interest groups.”
Alison | Lakewood, CO
“The majesty, uniqueness and wonder we find in wilderness is incredible—blasting open our senses and souls.”
Perry Brown | Ivins, UT
“I have had many special experiences in wilderness such as sharing a research excursion with one of my sons in the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado and experiencing his excitement and development.”
Mary Pants | Bend, OR
“I live in Bend, Oregon, the fastest growing city in Oregon. Without wilderness, our economy would collapse.”
Anonymous | Price, UT
“Wilderness was the only source of safety I felt as a child. I still feel safest in wild places.”
Lucia | Carbondale, Illinois
“Anytime I am in wilderness, I struggle to leave and go back to city-life. If I was not a social creature and dependent on other humans for my survival, I would never come out of Wilderness!”
Julia C. | Las Vegas, NV
“Taking a wilderness survival course, I learned how to read a topographical map, use a compass, what food non-perishable foods to bring and what foods are available in the natural setting. I learned how to filter water from a stream to make it safe to drink.”
Andrew Young | Charlottesville, VA
“Protecting wilderness is one of the cheapest, most common-sense things we can do for the rivers, communities, and ways of life that we care about here in Appalachia.”
Jaylyn Gough, Diné | Grand Rapids, MI
“What’s really beautiful about walking this land is that it’s the land our ancestors walked on. It’s the land that gives us strength.”
Joel Hazelton | Tempe, AZ
“It was mid-summer in the desert, so reversing my route and swimming those pools on a warm night while looking at a sky full of stars above me is something I will never forget.”
Renée Wentz | Jenkintown, PA
“Our America is a plethora of wilderness. To maintain nature and keep access safe for people would be a goal. Our future generations will be grateful for the efforts that we make. As we are grateful for our prior generations’ work.”
Cindy Flynn | Boulder, CO
“My community is committed to defending these wild places not only for us but for future generations.”
Mark Teague | Austerlitz, NY
“I wish that the politicians and bankers conducting land grabs could sit here with me. Maybe they would actually see the land, and feel it. Maybe this quintessential American landscape would become something more than an abstraction to them, more than another profit center.”
Virginia Hunt | Pembroke, MA
“Millions of people visit these wilderness places. Keep them. Support them. Drilling for oil and mining will only destroy them and once gone, that's it.”