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Our Mission
"The Arizona Wilderness Coalition (AWC) is an ad hoc organization of groups and individuals whose mission is to protect and restore wilderness and other wildlands and waters in Arizona. The AWC will coordinate and conduct inventories, educate citizens about these lands, enlist continuing support and advocate for their lasting protection."
Prescott College Field Office History
In February 2002, the AWC embarked upon an innovative partnership with Prescott College to organize support and initiate roadless inventories in the remaining portion of Arizona. The AWC is sponsoring two full time graduate fellowships at Prescott College. The Master of Arts program is a limited-residence program designed for creative working adults. A two-year study plan has been developed that integrates AWC work with academic progress. Jason Williams has been selected as the Central/Sonoran Regional Coordinator and Jay Krienitz has been assigned to the Western Deserts Regional Coordinator position.
 Prescott College is arguably one of the largest environmental organizations in Arizona. Through personal connections and promoting activism for wilderness designation at the school, a broad network of individuals and institutions will be created. Outside of the classroom, students, faculty and staff alike will be encouraged to participate as volunteers and advocates for wilderness. The Prescott-based Regional Coordinators are essentially running a wilderness campaign out of the Sam Hill Warehouse at Prescott College. In addition to efforts on our part to set up the Prescott arm of the AWC, the South-Central/Western Coordinators will instruct at least one undergraduate class per semester that will focus on land management, inventory, rural outreach and preparing wilderness recommendations for specific areas. This effort will produce data that will be used in the final wilderness proposals. They also will coordinate with other undergraduate classes that plan to participate as a part of their curricula. They each spend significant time organizing and coordinating with other organizations and volunteers within their respective regions.
AWC's History
The AWC was created in the 1970's in response to the Forest Service RARE-II process under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the BLM Wilderness Review directed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. By design, those processes were more about "releasing" lands from wilderness consideration than they were about designating wilderness. However, through the efforts of a band of dedicated volunteers guided by Joni Bosh and Rob Smith of the Sierra Club the AWC was instrumental in getting 3.5 million acres of new wilderness designated in Arizona via 1984 and 1990 legislation. More important, the AWC managed to stave off hard release language which today allows for the reconsideration of over five million acres of public lands for permanent wilderness protection.
In December 2000, about fifty wilderness activists met in Phoenix for the purpose of rejuvenating the formerly all-volunteer AWC. It was determined that the AWC should be reorganized to coordinate the efforts of the various groups across the state involved in protecting wildlands while also providing leadership statewide. Member groups have missions that go beyond wildland protection. It was decided, therefore, that the AWC would focus exclusively on roadless and wildland protections including advocating for Wilderness and Wild & Scenic River designations. At a subsequent meeting, a 13 member Board of Directors was elected to reorganize and oversee the AWC and to hire a Director.
Our Organization
The AWC is a true coalition, in name and structure. We have made a conscious decision to involve member organizations as host sites for key AWC staff positions. We are capitalizing on their years of organizing, outreach and scientific expertise. The approach minimizes duplication of effort and our overhead costs as we take full advantage of existing infrastructures. These partnerships also strengthen our joint efforts and help our partners to take advantage of our value-added statewide capacity. The AWC has consciously chosen not to create a separate 501 c(3) organization. The Wilderness Society (through the Wilderness Support Center) serves as the fiscal sponsor.
 Don Hoffman was hired as the first paid Director in October 2001. He is responsible for overseeing all AWC activities, for raising and managing the AWC budget, and coordinating all wilderness protection efforts and wilderness designation campaigns in Arizona. We have divided Arizona into four geographic regions, with a Regional Coordinator assigned to each. The Regional Coordinators positions are hosted by the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, the Sky Island Alliance and two at Prescott College. In addition we have developed a wildlands defense position through the Center for Biological Diversity.
We have our eye on the prize, which is to secure new substantial Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River designations that will include all regions of the State. However, we are also focused on more immediate and measurable objectives that we believe are necessary for our success.
We were fortunate to have five new National Monuments bestowed upon Arizona by former Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt and the Clinton Administration. All five are rich in roadless areas and potential wilderness. The Bureau of Land Management will begin the planning processes for these Monuments in 2002. We have been actively inventorying the roadless units, reviewing previous BLM inventories and decisions, and preparing wilderness recommendations based on ecological justifications that have not been fully evaluated in the past. We intend to submit our citizens' proposals for all five Monuments during the scoping periods.
In Southeastern Arizona, the Sky Island Alliance has completed inventories and wilderness recommendations for the National Forest lands including the 700,000 acre Blue Range Wildlands Complex. We are in the process of developing outreach and media strategies for our wilderness proposals for this region of the State.
We recognize that we need to build a broad base of support for our proposals. As soon as funds become available we intend to hire a Communications/Media Coordinator to build membership support from individuals, organizations, businesses and government officials.
In a broader context, the AWC is actively researching and inventorying all of Arizona's federal public lands for Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River potential. Our Regional Coordinators are organizing students, volunteers and interns to conduct inventories and to help prepare our wildland recommendations. The AWC will be the keeper of statewide inventories and campaign coordinator for the citizen proposals for wildland protections. Utilizing all available techniques, we will advocate for interim protections of our wildland proposals until permanent protections are provided.
Our Coalition
The Arizona Wilderness Coalition is proud to be made up of some of the best and brightest environmental groups in the Southwest. Our Board of Directors and our affiliated advising organizations are the backbone of our organization. Our members and affiliated groups reign from:
Our Financial Support
The AWC appreciates the very generous financial support that we receive from private foundations and individuals. However, fund raising remains an immediate priority. Individuals may make non-deductible donations to:
Arizona Wilderness Coalition
P.O. Box 529
Alpine, AZ 85920
Private foundations and larger donors may grant tax deductible donations through our tax-exempt fiscal sponsor. If you wish to provide tax deductible support to the AWC, please contact:
Don Hoffman, AWC Director
dhoffman@azwild.org
(928) 339-4426
Because of your support, the AWC is poised to do some very significant and exciting work.
Thank you.
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