(June/July 2013) Take it or Leave it: 15 YEARS LATER…THOUGHTS ON ‘THE WILDERNESS MENTORING CONFERENCE OF 1998’…by Jim Stiles

“But in the late ‘90s, something was different and I could never pinpoint the cause—if there was one.  But from where I stood, the “crusade” to save wilderness had gradually become a sales pitch. In Utah, the economic component of wilderness became a prominent, if not the defining reason for passing a wilderness bill. Suddenly, the idea of wilderness and the legislative process to create wilderness diverged. I found myself on the outside, looking into a “movement” that I no longer recognized.  It was never the same for me again and I couldn’t  understand where they (or I) had gone astray.
Jump ahead 15 years and the Miracle of the World Wide Web.”

To read more of Jim’s story, click the image below:

http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2013/06/02/take-it-or-leave-it-15-years-later-thoughts-on-the-wilderness-mentoring-conference-of-1998-by-jim-stiles/

Also, check out the companion to this piece, with excerpts from the Wilderness Mentoring Conference here: http://www.canyoncountryzephyr.com/2013/06/02/when-everything-changed-the-wilderness-mentoring-conference-1998/