The Wildlands Project [Slide Show] Page 2

"At first glance, a vision of North America with regained wildness and biodiversity seems unrealistic, even utopian. But when we consider that restoration at this scale is a process requiring decades or even centuries, it begins to make sense." (Noss and Cooperrider, 1994, "Saving Natures Legacy, Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity." Island Press, Washington, D.C.)

Part of the Wildlands Project's strategy consists of actually mapping out areas for preservation and recovery. This is a series of maps that show how the Wildlands Project will evolve in Florida over the next 100 years. The brown areas are the only areas where people are allowed to remain. One hundred years may seem like a long time, but the Wildlanders frankly admit that this is a long-range plan, and they believe time is on their side.

"Does all the foregoing mean that Wild Earth and The Wildlands Project advocate the end of industrialized civilization? Most assuredly. Everything civilized must go..."

--John Davis, editor of
Wild Earth magazine

"Perhaps even more to the point than Foreman, John Davis, former editor of Wild Earth, put it this way:"

The Wildlands Project is based on the philosophy of Deep Ecology and the science of Conservation Biology.

Irregardless of how unlikely the Wildlands Project may seem, Wildlanders have an almost religious-like conviction that their plan must succeed. For Wildlanders, no less than the survival of life on Earth is at stake. Sophisticated beyond what many might expect, the Wildlands Project contains its own science, and its own philosophy, and if society's goal is to maximize biological diversity, to the exclusion of any other goal, it is a plan that merits discussion.

The United Nations agrees, and the Wildlands Project was mentioned in their "Global Biodiversity Assessment" as a possible approach to preserving biological diversity. (See Section 13.4.2.2.3, page 993, "Global Biodiversity Assessment", Cambridge University Press, 1995)