Protecting America's Wild Lands for 60 years
Sixty years ago today President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Wilderness Act. Considered a landmark bill at the time, this was a major step in the movement to preserve forests, waterways, and wildlife from human development, designed to preserve the nation's most pristine and untouched natural areas for future generations to enjoy. This law created the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS), which initially set aside 9.1 million acres of federal land across 54 areas as wilderness.
Today, the NWPS has grown to protect over 111 million acres of wilderness areas across the United States. Various federal agencies, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management manage these lands. These wilderness areas are protected from development, motorized vehicles, and other forms of human interference, allowing ecosystems to function naturally, providing habitats for wildlife, clean air and water, and opportunities for people to experience nature in its raw, unaltered form. As pressures from development and climate change continue to grow, the Act's role in safeguarding America's wild places is more critical than ever.
We here at Owl Creek Conservancy know all too well about the pressures of development encroaching here in Knox County. Pictured here are a few of the Properties we have helped Protect. This beauty is what we are striving to preserve and why we are passionate about protecting our local lands from development, especially farmlands.
Please help us protect the rural nature of Knox County.
If you would like to join us in this fight, please donate today every dollar counts when saving the land from development!
Thanks for your support