Hi Momoko—
My name is Mason Cummings, and I'm the lead staff photographer for The Wilderness Society. I don't normally write emails like this—but after returning home from a recent trip to the Western Arctic, I knew I couldn't stay quiet about what I saw there.
Many people picture the Arctic as empty or barren. That couldn't be further from what I experienced: surrounded constantly by the calls of birds that migrated thousands of miles from around the world to breed, watching hundreds of beluga whales swim through its icy blue waters, the land felt incredibly alive.
That makes it all the more infuriating that the Bureau of Land Management is proposing a new rule to fast-track drilling approvals, cut out public input and stymie environmental reviews in this special place. This proposed rule puts clean water, critical wildlife habitat and essential subsistence resources at risk while threatening the government's ability to hold companies accountable for damages like oil spills, wildlife impacts or rig collapses.
The Wilderness Society is on the front lines of the fight to defend this one-of-a-kind landscape, and today I hope you'll consider supporting the work we do to protect it and all of America's incredible public lands. In honor of our upcoming Giving Day, every gift will be matched 3X, up to $375,000, which means you'll do three times as much to fund important conservation efforts taking place in the courts, in the halls of Congress and in communities just like yours and mine.
Momoko, this was my first time visiting the Western Arctic, and what struck me most about it was the vast scale and sense of intactness. Looking in any direction, there was little evidence of human development. The landscape still functions as a complete ecosystem, supporting everything from migratory birds to beluga whales to caribou. And its resources remain a crucial source of cultural identity, nourishment and connection for the Indigenous communities that have called the Arctic home for millennia.
This is one of the last truly wild places left on this continent—and arguably in the world. Once landscapes like this are fragmented or industrialized, there's no getting them back. Protecting them now ensures that future generations inherit a world where places as rare and special as the Western Arctic still exist.
If you share in my belief that it's our responsibility to hand these lands down—and in my conviction that these lands are for the public good, not private profit—please make a tax-deductible gift to The Wilderness Society today. Every dollar will be matched 3X until midnight on September 3—meaning you can take advantage of our Giving Day match today and triple your impact for the Arctic and other vulnerable public lands across the country.
Protecting the Arctic isn't just about protecting one remote place. It's about protecting a critical link in a global network that all life depends on—and the same is true of all of our public lands.
On behalf of everyone here at The Wilderness Society, thank you so much for your commitment to defending these irreplaceable lands and waters, and our right to explore them. Everything we do is thanks to people like you.
With gratitude,
Mason Cummings
The Wilderness Society
P.S. Here are a few of my favorite photos from my trip. I hope you enjoy them!
