Wilderness and Wildlife

Programs

Staff Tools

"Mountains compliment desert as desert complements city, as wilderness complements and completes civilization. A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there. I may never in my life get to Alaska-but I am grateful its there... No, wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization that destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself." Edward Abbey, Desert Solitare

At the core of the SCS mission is the idea that humans need to protect some lands in their natural state for cultural and ecological reasons. Sitka Conservation Society was born when several Sitkan families banded together to submit the first citizen's proposal in Alaska for desigation of a Wilderness Area, in 1967. After a 13 year struggle, we successfully established the West Chichagof- Yakobi Wilderness Area, thus protecting all of the outer coast of the northern Tongass. Ever since, we have ceaselessly advocated for further protection of Tongass wildlands so future generations may always have the opportunity to admire and make use of pristine Alaska.

Photos of Alaskan Wildlife

Link to the Sitka Nature website to learn more about birds, animals, plants and more of the Sitka area

Wilderness Stewardship Project

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The Sitka Community Wilderness Stewardship project brings together people and wilderness in an original and exciting way. Funded by the National Forest Foundation and the Sitka Conservation Societys Living Wilderness Fund, this project creates a working partnership between the USFS Sitka Ranger District, the Sitka Conservation Society, and a broad spectrum of community members to conduct scientific research expeditions and community monitoring in the two Wilderness Areas surrounding Sitka. By kayaks, float planes, skiffs and on foot, volunteer Sitka residents and Wilderness Rangers are exploring some of the most wild and remote places in Southeast Alaska this summer. Working together for the common goal of stewardship, they are experiencing wildness first hand and gathering needed baseline data about these significant areas.

The Living Wilderness Fund

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In 2004, Sitka Conservation Society created the Living Wilderness Fund, an endowment fund to insure that there will be a "Voice" for Wilderness for years to come in the Tongass. To date we have received several hundred generous donations to the fund, and we will soon be able to draw from it to mount new Wilderness campaigns.

An endowment fund is essentially an account from which only the interest on the principal is spent. This fund is separate from SCS's general operating budget, and was created with the goal of one day being able to fund a staff position at SCS that is specifically charged with advocating for new Wilderness area designations on the Tongass.

We consider wilderness to be an intricate web of relationships amongst living things and their specific place. There are many impacts on wilderness: winds and volcanic eruptions and fires, which nature herself initiates. But the most fateful impacts on wilderness are driven by human agendas -- these days, most often economic. Pristine wilderness is a gift in which humans can experience beauty and solitude. It is also a place which nurtures the needs of all creation by preserving materials which soothe and heal physically, even humans. When we compromise wilderness, we risk destroying resources which we ourselves need to survive -- clean air, pure water, interactive medicines, quite and respite from the modern world.