World Wilderness Congress

8/24-31/24 - Sa-Sa - South Dakota - This year, the World Wilderness Congress will be held in South Dakota, the third time the quadrennial series of gatherings will be held in the U.S. After March 31, registration fee for the full week may increase to $1000. For more info, go to wild.org

Wilderness Protection 

The purpose of the Sierra Club when it first came into being in 1892 (Ref #1): "To explore, enjoy, and render accessible the mountain regions of the Pacific Coast, to publish authentic information concerning them, and to enlist the support and cooperation of the people and government in preserving the forests and other natural features of the Sierra Nevada Mountains."

The purpose of the Sierra Club, as stated in the Angeles Chapter's Leader's Reference Book (1977):

To explore, enjoy and preserve the Sierra Nevada
   And other scenic resources of the United States
   And its forests, waters, wildlife, and wilderness;
To understand and to publish scientific, literary,
   And educational studies concerning them;
To educate the people with regard to
   National and state forests, parks, monuments
   And other natural resources of especial scenic beauty and
To enlist public interest and cooperation in protecting them.

The Club is still actively involved in protecting, exploring and climbing in the Sierra - most notably through the efforts of our own Sierra Peaks Section (SPS), established in 1955. (Ref #2) The SPS maintains a list of peaks in the Sierra and encourages members to climb the peaks. This has resulted in a large number of people with knowledge of the Sierra Nevada and an appreciation of its wilderness areas. Whether fighting development of ski areas in the 1970s or some future plan, such knowledge can be very useful in protection of wilderness areas.

References:

#1 - Sierra Club - 100 Years of Protecting Nature
by Tom Turner, published by Henry N Abrams, Inc. 1991, p48

#2 - A Brief History of the Sierra Peaks Section - by Bill Oliver, 2001

Additional references may be found in History of the Sierra Nevada by Francis Farquahar, University of California Press in collaboration with the Sierra Club, 1965, especially at the end of chapter XX: The Sierra Club and the High Sierra.

Info on this page updated 4/3/24.