Doug Scott, one of the nation’s leading wilderness authors and historians, will be visiting WVU’s campus today, Oct. 8, to speak about citizen efforts to protect public lands through the National Wilderness Preservation System.

The event is sponsored by the West Virginia Wilderness Coalition and the WVU Environmental Law Society, and will take place on at 7 p.m. in the Davis Gallery at the WVU College of Law.

Author of two acclaimed books, Scott will also share passages from his new work, Our Wilderness: America’s Common Ground, which celebrates the National Wilderness Preservation System and those who have worked to preserve our special wild places. Our Wilderness features scenes from Wilderness areas across the U.S., including several areas in West Virginia.

Policy Director of the Campaign for America’s Wilderness, Scott is one of the premier experts on the U.S. wilderness movement. He has been involved in the passage of most major wilderness protection laws in the last 40 years, including the Eastern Wilderness Areas Act (1975), Endangered American Wilderness Act (1978) and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (1980). Scott was also involved in the most recent landmark act– the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (2009) – which protected more than two million acres across nine states and permanently preserved around 37,000 acres of West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest as Wilderness.

Scott helped shape strategy and led campaigns at The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club (where he served as national Conservation Director and Associate Executive Director). In 1997 the Sierra Club presented Scott with its highest honor, the John Muir Award.

The event is open to the public, and will be followed by a reception and book signing.

-WVU-

bc/10/08/09

CONTACT: Brian Caudill, College of Law
(304) 293-7439; brian.caudill@mail.wvu.edu