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MOUNT SHASTA, MOUNT EDDY, AND OTHER POTENTIAL WILDERNESS ADDITIONS
by Jessica Rios and Michelle Berditschevsky

The California Wild Heritage Campaign is working with hundreds of activists across the state to permanently protect special wild areas and rivers. The MOUNT SHASTA BIOREGIONAL ECOLOGY CENTER, along with other grassroots activists, and organizations throughout the state, including the California Wilderness Coalition, Friends of the River, the Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, have set out to work in every county with either an acre of unprotected wilderness or a mile of unprotected wild river in it. In total, there are close to 100 citizen groups working for the cause, from San Diego to Mount Shasta, from the desert to the central coast. We are lucky to have a champion like Senator Barbara Boxer who is now poised to announce legislation and her support for these special places which we have all worked so hard to protect.

It's taken a ton of work to get where we are today. We've spent over four years building and documenting the first-ever citizen's inventory of California's wilderness and rivers (see the reports at www.calwild.org and www.friendsoftheriver.org ). In the last two years we've taken out those maps, met with community opinion leaders, stakeholders, and local elected officials to build support, resolve conflicts, and answer questions about wilderness and wild and scenic designation.

The results and response have been a bit surprising and quite positive - we've done the grassroots organizing needed to secure support from folks that have never supported us before. And we haven't done this in just one place; we've done it all over the state. Here's a snapshot of what hundreds of activists and the Campaign have achieved in these last two years:

100 local organizing committees have formed to build support for their local areas.
Nearly 100 local elected officials have signed on in support of their local areas
Over 2000 businesses, opinion leaders, and stakeholders have written letters of support.
We've set the groundwork needed and are excited about what this next year will bring for California's wilderness and wild rivers. Hundreds of activists have built support for millions of acres of wilderness and hundreds of miles or rivers. But we're not quite done.

If you'd like to learn more about the Campaign or get involved, contact Regina Neri at 530 926 5655 or at shastamedicine@snowcrest.net or Jessica Rios at (530) 343-9541 or Jessica@calwild.org.

Jessica Rios is the Chico/NE CA regional Organizer with the California Wild Heritage Campaign and works with Friends of the River.