There need to be places on this planet where land is untouched and preserved. I want to reiterate a paragraph from a previous blog entry:

I too often hear, But no one’s DOING anything with that land! Like so many other people, I used to look at open land and say, Nothing is there. We are more used to the notion of developing land into something, or using it for something. The notion of wild land has become a radical concept in the last century. Not only is it healthy for the planet to have large untouched and wild areas, wilderness regions are the birthright of all the peoples of this planet. We need places where we can experience the pure power and majesty of nature doing its thing. While some lands might be available for visitors to explore and experience directly, we also need untouched areas that preserve the biodiversity of the planet.

Among many other reasons, we need mature and large stands of trees to absorb carbon dioxide, store the carbon and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Read the rest of this entry »