[CC] WILDALERT NEWS: December 2009 Update (fwd)

Thu Dec 10 00:30:28 CET 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:42:15 GMT
From: The Wilderness Society <action at tws.org>
Reply-To: notice-reply-xi55xdsra73xtmbn at ga-mail.action.wilderness.org
To: Alan Sondheim <sondheim at panix.com>
Subject: WILDALERT NEWS: December 2009 Update

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* WILDALERT NEWS -- December 2009
* Brought to you by The Wilderness Society
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In this issue of WildAlert News:
1. Welcome
2. Take Action
3. Inside Story
4. News
5. Support Our Work
6. Words to Inspire

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1. WELCOME

Dear
Alan,

As the year
draws to a close, we are simply astounded at all we have been
able to accomplish with your help. The highlights? Passing a
two-million acre wilderness bill that will permanently protect
wilderness in nine states, temporarily halting attempts to strip
the nation's roadless forests of protections, boosting
conservation funding, and halting plans to double logging in
Oregon's ancient forests, home to the marbled murrelet and the
northern spotted owl.

But, while we're
proud of what we have accomplished, so much remains to be done
to regain lost ground. In the coming year, we'll be working hard
to block oil and gas leasing in Utah's spectacular redrocks
country, protect the Arctic Refuge and Arctic waters from
leasing, and realize an ambitious plan to secure permanent
protection for up to five million acres of wilderness in
California, Colorado, New Mexico and other states.

There is reason
for cheer, and there is reason for hope. <A
style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px"
href="http://action.wilderness.org/ct/K7XYwF91eRvs/">Click
here to learn more.</a>

Wishing you a
warm and happy holiday season,

Kathy
Kilmer

P.S. We would
appreciate it so much if you could remember The Wilderness
Society in your year-end giving! <a
href="https://donate.wilderness.org/05/EOY09news/n-pXYwF9qXNud?">Click here to make your
tax-deductible gift today.</a>

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2. TAKE ACTION

One of the most
biologically rich areas in western Colorado, the Roan Plateau is
an island of biodiversity and beauty surrounded by lands being
drilled by oil and gas companies. Despite protest by local
governments and citizens, the Bureau of Land Management leased
the entire area for gas development &ndash; threatening the
Roan's wildness. The Wilderness Society is leading efforts to
legally challenge the Plateau leases and inadequate management
plan, and we need your help. <a
href="http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/protect_roan_09/xi55xdsra73xtmbn?">Take action
TODAY.</a>

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3. INSIDE STORY

2009: A Year of Solid Progress for Wild Lands

In 2009, we began to turn the tide on the destructive legacy of
the Bush administration. We won a temporary respite from oil and
gas leasing for New Mexico's Otero Mesa, Wyoming's Adobe Town,
and parcels in Utah's Red Rock country.

You also helped us score major increases in congressional
funding for federal conservation programs, save Oregon's ancient
old-growth forests from massive increases in logging, pressure
the Forest Service to halt damaging off-road vehicle (ORV) use
in California, and temporarily halt attempts to strip the
nation's roadless forests of protections. Beyond rolling back
destructive policies, we helped gain the largest increase in new
wilderness protections in nearly two decades - protecting 2.2
million lands of wilderness and other special lands in places
like Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park and California's
Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Many Bush-era legacies are still being played out in the courts
or are under review by the Obama administration. The threats are
not over, which is why we will need your continued support in
2010. Read more about the year's successes here:
http://action.wilderness.org/ct/JpXYwF91eRvL/

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4. IN THE NEWS

SOUTH CAROLINA'S ONLY NATIONAL PARK JUST GOT BIGGER!

A little love helps expand South Carolina's Congaree National
Park. Read the story:
http://action.wilderness.org/ct/DdXYwF91eRvA/

OUR REPORT REVEALS REALITY OF OIL DRILLING

The oil industry makes big promises when it comes to
environmental safety, but the reality is quite different. Learn
more: http://action.wilderness.org/ct/D1XYwF91eRv_/

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5. SUPPORT OUR WORK

The Obama administration is planning to draft new guidelines in
early 2010 that could permanently protect precious wild lands
around the country, including Utah's Redrock canyon country,
from Bush legacy policies that have left them at risk to
drilling.

Not surprisingly, Big Oil and Gas have launched a massive
campaign to derail the new rules. We can stop them - but we
urgently need your support to do so!

Help us meet our goal: $150,000 to fight back against Big Oil
and Gas and take back our public lands! Please make a
tax-deductible gift today!

https://donate.wilderness.org/05/EOY09news/n-pXYwF9qXNud?

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6. WORDS TO INSPIRE

"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather
than contempt, we must leave them something more than the
miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the
world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through
with it."

- President Lyndon B. Johnson, on the signing of the Wilderness
Act of 1964

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The Wilderness Society's mission is to protect wilderness and
inspire Americans to care for our wild places. As a subscriber
to WildAlert, you join more than 500,000 Wilderness Society
members and supporters in protecting and restoring America's
wild places.

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