Rewilding the American West

Authors

William J. Ripple, Oregon State UniversityFollow
Christopher Wolf, Oregon State University
Michael K. Phillips, Turner Endangered Species Fund
Robert L. Beschta, Oregon State University
John A. Vucetich, Michigan Technological University
J. Boone Kauffman, Michigan Technological University
Beverly E. Law, Oregon State University
Aaron J. Wirsing, University of Washington
Joanna E. Lambert, University of Colorado-Boulder
Elaine Leslie, National Parks and Conservation Association
Carly Vynne, RESOLVE
Eric Dinerstein, Oregon State University
Reed Noss, Florida Institute for Conservation Science
George Wuerthner, Public Lands Media
Dominick A. DellaSala, Earth Island Institute
Jeremy T. Bruskotter, The Ohio State University
Michael Paul Nelson, Oregon State University
Eileen Crist, Virginia Tech
Chris Darimont, University of Victoria
Daniel M. Ashe, US Fish and Wildlife Service

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

BioScience

Volume

72

Issue

10

Publisher

Oxford University Press

First Page

931

Last Page

935

Publication Date

8-9-2022

Abstract

After taking office, President Biden signed an executive order announcing his America the Beautiful plan to conserve 30% of US land and water by 2030. He challenged Americans to collaboratively “conserve, connect, and restore the lands, waters, and wildlife upon which we all depend” at a national scale (US Departments 2021, p. 9). Here, we take a major step in advancing President Biden's plan by envisioning a bold and science-based rewilding of publicly owned federal lands (hereafter, federal lands) in the American West. Beyond concerns for human survival and flourishing, a principled commitment to the natural world and a sense of moral urgency underpins the motivation for our proposal.

Recommended Citation

Ripple, W. J., C. Wolf, M. K. Phillips, R. L. Beschta, J. A. Vucetich, J. B. Kauffman, B. E. Law, A. J. Wirsing, J. E. Lambert, E. Leslie, C. Vynne, E. Dinerstein, R. Noss, G. Wuerthner, D. A. DellaSala, J. T. Bruskotter, M. P. Nelson, E. Crist, C. Darimont, and D. M. Ashe. 2022. Rewilding the American West. BioScience 72:931-935.