Joining Wild Wilderness
Unlike many similar groups, Wild Wilderness does not have an official membership with dues and annual enrollment. It is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit group. It uses volunteers as staff and relies on private donations. The group requests and welcomes donations, and its Web site is equipped with PayPal to facilitate donors [source: Wild Wilderness].
REA or RAT? When President George W. Bush signed the Federal Lands Recreation
Enhancement Act (REA), some opponents determined to call it RAT. The
acronym stands for Recreation Access Tax. Regardless of its name, it
provides for charging fees for "special recreation," such as shooting
ranges, "standard amenity fees," such as visitor centers, and "expanded
amenities," including highly-developed boat launches [source: U.S.
Forest Service]. |
Wild Wilderness is not focused on collecting money, however. Instead, the group prefers to encourage activism in local communities as well as at the national level. It supports letter-writing campaigns to newspaper editors or to members of Congress. The organization also favors signing and circulating petitions and keeping informed about wilderness-related issues that affect all citizens. To aid in disseminating that information, the Web site has a special blog section. The executive director comments there regularly. The organization also supports rallies that oppose privatizing public lands. It has worked with groups at local, state and regional levels to fight the passage of forest access fees and to prevent new fees from being passed into law. In addition, the group works with lawyers to assist people who are bringing legal challenges to the issues surrounding paying access fees [source: Wild Wilderness].
If you're a lover of wild places left unspoiled, check out this group's Web site for yourself. Read the blogs and comments and find out about pending legislation and legal challenges to laws. See how you can aid in the mission of preserving wild lands so that generations to come can experience the same enjoyment from the wilderness as you have.
