Western North America is a land of open vistas, wild animals, clear skies, and free-flowing streams. It is home to working ranches, small towns, and many generations of Americans whose lives are indelibly etched with the land they work.

But Western North America is also the land of vast extractive industries, ranging from coal to timber to oil and gas. It contains virtually all of the fastest-growing states in the nation, and hosts a great new burst of motorized recreation, exurban sprawl, and property development. These trends are irrevocably eroding the natural and human values that make the West such a magnificent landscape. Once-wild streams are dried out as water is diverted to urban use. The solace of the outback is shattered by the whine of snowmobiles. Hundred-year-old ranches are subdivided into ranchettes.

Protecting the remaining great open spaces of the West is a preeminent environmental challenge. There is still enough land to protect most ecosystems—but barely. If today’s stewards are intelligent, swift, and dedicated, they can keep alive some of the richest and most beautiful lands on the planet.

There are opportunities commensurate with the threats. Much of the West is public land, and public sentiment, if not agency history, calls for greater protection. Private landowners, too, are beginning to organize to defend the open spaces they manage. Marshaling these forces and building new laws, standards, and incentives to preserve the land, air, and water is possible—and necessary.

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