Anonymous | Republic, WA

Why does wilderness matter to you?

The poet Wendell Berry speaks to why wilderness matters to me. Wilderness makes me pause, reset, and its reminds me that I am not separate. It leaves me with hope for a better time. While hiking—being in awe of the unending skies, mountain ranges, wildflowers, and unending stars in the universe—dazzles the senses. Sublime nature.

The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

What are your hopes for the future of wilderness?

I hope that wilderness will be protected and will exist for future generations. I fear for what humanity will become if we lose it.