Dave Foreman, chair of the Wildlands Project, is among the country’s most outspoken and tireless advocates for wilderness conservation. Co-founder of Earth First!, Foreman became widely recognized for his radical acts on behalf of the natural world. As a seasoned veteran of the movement to protect, preserve and heal the wildness of North America, Foreman will discuss “rewilding” in a lecture titled The River Wild: Rewilding in the Context of Conservation History on Thursday, May 4 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. The UCSB Bookstore will have books available for purchase and signing.

In introducing the concept of rewilding, Foreman uses the metaphor of a River Wild, with headwaters, tributaries and currents, to illuminate the history of conservation. The headwater streams that originated the conservation movement were wildlife protection, stewardship, beauty and forest protection. Foreman points to a group of hunters who opposed the commercial exploitation of fish and game and the senseless slaughter of buffalo as the founders of the concept of wildlife protection in North America. Land stewardship came into focus in the 19th century with George Perkins Marsh who noted that the demise of ancient cultures paralleled degradation of the natural world. The headwater of beauty, or monumentalism, followed the earliest tides of tourists to Yosemite and the establishment of the National Parks system. Finally, John Muir’s campaign for forest protection fed the River Wild.

The river later expanded when the streams of wilderness preservation, ecosystem representation, carnivore protection and connectivity flowed into it. The move to preserve wilderness originated among Forest Service Rangers who wished to protect areas against cars, roads and other invasion. Ecosystem representation was born in 1926 when the Naturalist’s Guide to the Americas called for protecting ecologically representative Natural Areas. In 1932 “A Nature Sanctuary Plan” was adopted boldly by the Ecological Society of America saying that protection was needed for whole assemblages of native species, including large carnivores like mountain lions and wolves. More recently, the stream of connectivity (island biogeography) has flowed into the river wild. The latest addition is rewilding, which Foreman claims churns together all the other currents in “a deep, wide and powerful river.”

The Wildlands Project seeks to implement a North American Wilderness Recovery Strategy which will set aside, possibly over the course of more than 100 years, 50 percent of North America in “wild land” for the preservation of biological diversity. The “reserve networks” required to accomplish this goal include “cores,” areas created from public lands in which human access will be prohibited; “buffers,” land adjoining the cores where human use will be severely restricted; and “corridors” along rivers and migration routes which will allow wildlife to freely roam the terrain.

The work of The Wildlands Project is governed by the principals of Deep Ecology, which purports that all life is of equal value; resource consumption beyond what is minimally necessary to sustain life is immoral; the human population must be reduced; Western civilization must radically change present economic, technological and ideological structures.

Foreman has worked as a wilderness advocate since 1971. From 1973 to 1980, he worked for the Wilderness Society as Southwest Regional Representative in New Mexico and Director of Wilderness Affairs in Washington, D.C. From 1982 to 1988, he was editor of the Earth First! Journal. After splitting off from Earth First! in 1990, he became a co-founder, board member and chairman of The Wildlands Project and serves as publisher of the Project’s journal Wild Earth. He is also a member of the board of directors of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

In 1996, Foreman received the Paul Petzholdt Award for Excellence in Wilderness Education. Two years later, he was named by Audubon Magazine as one of the top 100 conservationists of the 20th century. In addition to authoring Confessions of an Eco-Warrior, he has written The Big Outside (with Howie Wolke). His most recent work, Lobo Outback Funeral Home, will be published this year. He is at work on another book titled The War on Nature.

This special event is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, The Wildlands Project and the Conception Coast Project. Tickets are available in advance at the UCSB A&L Ticket Office, or may be purchased at the door, if available, beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $5 for students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Roman Baratiak at (805) 893-2080.