Adopt a wilderness!

The Colville National Forest of northeastern Washington has oodles of wild roadless forest that deserve wilderness protection. We need you to adopt a wilderness.

Conservation Northwest intern Aaron Theisen recently adopted Hall Mountain. He's also helping head up the Adopt a Wilderness program for our Columbia Highlands Initiative.

Aaron uploaded one of his recent photos from the area to the High Country News Flickr group, and his photo was chosen as their pick for "reader photo of the week"!

Says Aaron, "A good criterion for wilderness is that, when you're there, you can truly feel the world is yours. Watching the run rise over the Selkirks from the ruins of the old lookout on Hall Mountain, seeing not a sign of another human being, I had that feeling at an intensity that I've felt only a few times."

He goes on to say, "That's what's so great about the Adopt a Wilderness program - it instills the pride of ownership in these wonderful wild places. And that's important, because each of us does own these public lands!"

Got an area you most love to visit? Sign up for your very own area. And don't forget to take your camera, and upload your photos to the Columbia Highlands Wilderness Flickr group.

Note that people can also "adopt" an area they've already been to and upload old photos. We'll give credit for time served!