To preserve and protect the biodiversity of the Central Appalachia Ecoregion, on all levels - genetic, landscape, ecosystem, and cultural.  This involves protecting existing wilderness and roadless areas as well as water resources; acquiring lands and waterways that are still in their pristine states; and push for reform in the federal agencies that manage forest, rivers and water resources to incorporate biodiversity at all levels of management. 

This campaign is a component of the Sierra Club's Global Challenges - Preserving the Wild Planet and Building an Environmentally Sustainable Economy. 

Campaign Context 

Back in the 1600s, it would have been common to spot a forest bison in Pennsylvania or a cougar in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.  Those species have long since been exterminated by mankind's actions.  And while it may be too late for some, Central Appalachia contains ecological treasures of national and international significance, as evidenced by neotropical songbirds and unique forest communities such as boreal bogs.  The ecoregion is the approximate center of the great white pine/hemlock forest.  The biodiversity of the region is threatened by population growth, sprawl, habitat fragmentation, and poor forest management practices.  With more people come more automobiles and more development in ever-widening circles.  And with the problems of that sprawl come high-tech solutions like 12-lane highways, garbage incinerators, mega-sewage treatment plants with more air-water toxic waste pollution, which weaken our naturall systems and degrade the 
habitat. 

The greatest challenge to Colonial America was the taming of the vast, primordial wilderness from the Atlantic seaboard westward.  Settlement became public policy, and Manifest Destiny its justification.  Nature's bounty appeared to be infinite.  Exploiting resources was a "natural right".  Open space was not valued in its own right, nor was there a need.  Development became an end in itself as one frontier after another was conquered.  The Native American culture was trampled in the process.  The ethic of a "throw away society" was created. 

We must all work to eliminate all the threats to biological diversity.  Only through extensive education efforts will the region's open space, forests and parks be protected, restored and expanded.  Ending suburban sprawl and eliminating toxic pollution will benefit flora and fauna, as well as humans.  We must set aside large tracts of land for plants and wildlife and provide wildlife corridors between these preserves 
 

Critical Ecoregions Program: A Joint Effort of the Sierra Club and The Sierra Club Foundation.

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© 1998 Dave Smith / Sierra Club Central Appalachia Ecoregion Task Force