In the beginning of America…the mountains, forests and waterways of the wilderness were seen by many European explorers as an obstacle…a challenge that needed to be conquered and civilized. Frontiersmen and families came looking for a new life, to build communities, to search for undiscovered treasures, to clear and tame the land. In time, with dynamite and the railroad, trees fell and mountains were moved. Now, if you want to find the wilderness, you have to know where you’re going, and your journey most likely will take you across a lot of concrete. But conservation organizations are working to preserve and expand what’s left of the wilderness in places like the Cherokee National Forest. It’s there that an event called Tellico Wild helps us see what the new world must have looked like. Conservationists are hoping to have many more acres of land declared as wilderness, which takes an act of Congress. So, the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards continue to lobby U.S. representative and senators to help preserve these magnificent places.
From show 3103
