The more you learn about the places you love, the more you discover the long history of these places and how close we were to losing these cherished lands.
Federal issues: The threats to our treasured heights are still with us and have never been worse in our lifetime. The U.S. Department of Interior has made sweeping changes in 2017 and 2018 which effect over 139 million acres of public federal land in the lower 48. These systematic changes put oil, gas and mining interests above all other interests. Backcountry skiers, riders, hunter and fisherman, ATV users and others are being disregarded in favor of lobbyists.
State lands: Some of our state’s highest points are located on state-owned lands. These areas have their own issues including encroaching real estate developments, mineral extraction or public access threats.
In every article and full length video we include information on how the area was preserved and what are current threats to the mountains or areas immediately adjacent to the mountains (the viewshed).
Here is a list of organizations which work towards conservation and/or user group access:
The Winter Wildlands Alliance works with land managers like the National Forest Service in support of skiers, snowshoers, snowboarders, winter mountaineers and other low-impact users of wild lands. They work to keep access and develop smart policy that keeps our last blocks of wilderness protected.
This organization works to preserve skier and splitboarder’s rights to access wilderness in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. This area is under state control and poor management policy passed during the 1970s failed to preserve ski trail designations in the High Peaks Region. In the thick Northeastern woods ski trails are vital access ways to the backcountry.
Backcountry United is an organization that works with backcountry skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers and others. As their mission they state: “We aim to spread awareness by promoting balanced mixed-use public land access; avalanche awareness and education, and social responsibility through collaborative efforts between backcountry users, influencers and brands. We believe that it’s time for all of us to come together with a common purpose to protect the access that we love.”
National Forest Foundation – this organization works to connect local recreational users with national forest land so that the land can be managed better.
Our Media: read articles about our nation’s wild places through the Skiing States series: