The Primary Threats: The still natural stretches of wild America are endangered by a wide range of human activities.

Damage from industrial use: Commercial clearcutting of forests, cyanide-heap-leach mining and other large-scale mining operations, extensive oil and gas drilling and intensive overgrazing by privately owned livestock have damaged more than half of America's publicly owned land.

Damming and Channelization: Attempts to control the course and flow of America's rivers have destroyed fish and wildlife habitat and contributed to more intense floods.

Pollution: Toxic mining, industrial waste and polluted runoff from cities and industrialized agriculture threaten many waterways and drinking supplies.

Sprawl and Development: Nationwide, we are already losing one million acres of productive farm land and open space every year to development.

Off-Road Vehicles: These vehicles are increasingly tearing through remote areas, disturbing wildlife habitat, soil and plant communities and contributing to air and water pollution.

Protecting Wild America: The good news is that there are steps we can take to save the wilderness that's left.

Preservation: Our most valuable public lands should be permanently protected as parks and monuments, wilderness areas, national conservation areas and refuges.

Acquisition: The best way to ensure that private wildlands stay wild is to purchase them and hold them in public ownership.

Restoration: Whether it's by removing specific dams, or converting logging roads to trails or replanting native vegetation, restoration can repair fragmented habitat.

Protecting Public Forests: The Timber industry has turned our publicly owned National Forests into a patchwork of clear-cuts and logging roads, using taxpayer money. Decades of fire suppression and over-logging have contributed to large forest fires. National Forests filter pollution out of our water, protect us from flooding, and provide wildlife habitat and a place for us to recreate.

To protect homes, defuse fire threats, save taxpayer money and restore healthy forests, the Forest Service must reduce flammable brush close to communities, use more prescribed burns to restore fire’s natural role, educate and help homeowners protect their homes from fire, and end commercial logging on public land.