NWSA has hired its first Executive Director, Randy Welsh.  "I am extremely proud of the work that our wilderness stewards are doing across the country and feel humble to support their efforts in this new role,"  Randy said.  "Progress has been made, but there is still much to do to knit together the various wilderness stewardship groups into a collective voice.  NWSA is the right organization to get this job done.  I am pleased to help NWSA achieve its goal of a wilderness stewardship group for every wilderness and to help build a thriving and powerful wilderness stewardship community."

Congratulations to Discovery Southeast for completing the first NWSA Wilderness Stewardship Grant this season. The 2016 Teacher Expedition in southeast Alaska was a resounding success.  Read on to view their final report and to see their compelling video.

The Tongass National Forest, a coastal rain forest, contains boggy ground called muskeg, and many trails there are built of raised boards. Because trails need replacing every 10-15 years, the trail system is limited.

When Jose Witt, Southern Nevada Manager of Friends of Nevada Wilderness (FNW) hosts a party, he draws quite a crowd.  And could there be a better reason to party than to celebrate wilderness?

Job Corps youth join in on kiosk construction and wilderness celebration.

Staff of the Selway Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation on September 16th joined youth from the Trapper Creek Job Corps to construct a Wilderness50 celebration kiosk near two of America’s largest wilderness areas in Montana.

Val Silva laughs when she recalls a child asking “Who planted all these trees? It was the first time the youth had been in a national forest. As Executive Director of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association (SGWA), Silva has gotten used to such questions. The group annually hosts a festival which brings more than a hundred urban youth and their families to the San Bernardino National Forest for a day of fishing, hiking, picnicking and more.

The Bureau of Land Management was once so dominated by resource extraction that favorite son Edward Abbey dubbed it the “Bureau of Livestock and Mines.” But in the 21st century the BLM has undertaken a new vision of conservation with the creation of the National Conservation Lands. Redrock canyons, high deserts, long vistas, archeological treasures – these lands are some of the most iconic of the American West.

Members of the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps joined Friends of Wilderness on the Medicine-Bow/Routt National Forest to build a turnpike through a wilderness wetland.  The project was one of more than a dozen sponsored by NWSA and the USFS.

Stewardship:  The Sincerest Form of Advocacy

Rare forest carnivores, such as wolverines, pine marten, fishers, ermine and lynx are some of the most iconic creatures of wilderness. In the western U.S. , these rare animals are widely dispersed in high altitude, remote areas. Little wonder that the animals may be threatened by climate change.

On April 15, 2016, NWSA Board member Randy Welsh and others presented a free webinar on the WSP program and how to apply for a NWSA/USFS grant.