Ideas, Speakers & Lectures

Wilderness Workshop

Wilderness Workshop’s mission is to protect the wilderness, water, and wildlife of western Colorado’s public lands. The organization works across more than four million acres of public lands to ensure their ecological integrity. They have led efforts to designate more than half a million acres of Wilderness and hundreds of thousands of roadless areas in western Colorado. Their efforts focus on protecting public lands from threats such as industrial development, climate change, and short-term exploitation, but perhaps more important is what they protect public lands for – intact and thriving ecosystems, a livable planet for current and future generations, and the moment of awe that can only be experienced in a wild place. Learn more at wildernessworkshop.org.

Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen with Wilderness Workshop's Will Roush

Aspen Public Radio

Published August 11, 2023 at 1:20 PM MDT

This event was recorded on August 9, 2023 at Explore Booksellers, in partnership with Aspen Public Radio.

Explore Booksellers and Environment America hosted Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen and Carbondale’s Wilderness Workshop Executive Director Will Roush at Explore for a discussion on the environmental movement’s efforts to equitably address the climate and biodiversity crises.

For decades, their organizations have partnered to limit and ultimately stop the leasing and extraction of fossil fuels on public lands. From protecting iconic landscapes like the Roan Plateau and the Thompson Divide to closing loopholes that allow oil and gas companies to hold onto leases for decades beyond what the law allows, Earthjustice and Wilderness Workshop are fighting to protect our public lands, save at-risk species, and ensure equitable environmental solutions.

With over 200 lawyers plus research analysts, policy experts, and scientists, Earthjustice is the nation’s premier nonprofit public interest environmental law organization. Founded in 1971, Earthjustice has saved irreplaceable wildlands, cleaned up the air we breathe, and fueled the rise of 100% clean energy. They have protected countless species on the brink of extinction, and secured long-overdue, historic limits on our nation’s worst polluting industries. Its motto: We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.

Co-founded in 1967 “Maroon Belles” Connie Harvey, Joy Caudill, and Dottie Fox, Wilderness Workshop secured congressional designation for the Hunter-Fryingpan, Collegiate Peaks, West Elks, and Raggeds Wilderness Areas, and doubled the acreage within the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area, altogether securing nearly a half-million acres of wilderness in the White River National Forest.

Major projects included strengthening the Colorado Roadless Rule, launching the forest-wide Hidden Gems Wilderness Campaign, reducing habitat fragmentation in the revision of the WRNF Travel Plan, and invalidating Bush-era management plans for the Roan Plateau.