OUR MISSION
PROTECT, LINK & RESTORE
Wild Arizona’s mission is to protect, unite, and restore wild lands and waters across Arizona and beyond, for the enrichment and health of all generations, and to ensure Arizona's native plants and animals a lasting home in wild nature.
OUR APPROACH
KNOW IT, LOVE IT, PROTECT IT
We cultivate stewardship; organize and amplify multi-community voices of support for legislation and special designations; and advocate for conservation policy. Connected habitat sustains treasured webs of life in the wild, including and especially springs and rivers, and the broad pathways that people and wildlife can travel freely. The many beings that inhabit the Grand Canyon State, human included, thrive when we protect and heal our wild lands and waters.
OUR STORY
FORMING WILD ARIZONA
Wild Arizona is Arizona Wilderness Coalition joining forces with the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. In 2019, we blend two long-standing conservation organizations with strong roots in Arizona’s rich conservation history, the wilderness movement, the Colorado River and Grand Canyon, deep ecology, outdoor adventure, field-based research, hands-on habitat restoration, and working for and with community partners including Tribes.
OUR HISTORY
WILDERNESS, WILD RIVERS, & MONUMENTS
In 2023, Wild Arizona helped add Baaj Nwaavjo, I'tah Kukveni, Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon to Arizona's list of protected landscapes. This followed a long history of successful protections. As Arizona Wilderness Coalition (AWC), we were instrumental in the passage of landmark bills, establishing Arizona's 90 designated Wilderness Areas, and the Wild & Scenic designation for Fossil Creek and the Verde River. As Grand Canyon Wildlands Council (GCWC), we conducted assessments that were the basis of the Grand Canyon-Parashant and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments on the north rim of Grand Canyon.
WILDERNESS STEWARDSHIP
WORK WITH YOUR HANDS
We operate Arizona's only full-time professional and year-round field crew, working in wild areas across the state and along the Mogollon Rim into New Mexico. Stewardship includes trail maintenance, watershed restoration, wilderness monitoring, and public engagement. This is a job for all of us, so we organize and support wild volunteers and communities across the state, provide a 6-week long youth conservation corps program and develop outdoor equity programs to reach marginalized communities and those who historically have not been heard in the public lands process.
WILD CONNECTIONS
REGIONAL-SCALE WILDLIFE PATHWAYS
Wild Connections are regional-scale terrestrial and riparian wildlife corridors within which we seek protections such as Wilderness, Wildlife Conservation Areas, National Monuments, administrative wildlife corridor protections, and more.
CONSERVATION IS LOVE IN ACTION
Throughout our work, we strive to unite people across culture circles with the common goal of protecting and restoring wild places—for the longevity and resiliency of species, for the enjoyment and vibrant health of future generations, and for the love of wildness itself.
We find ourselves returning to this idea: Know it. Love it. Protect it.
CONNECTION IS KEY
Ask yourself, can you really love what you don’t know? Are you willing to protect what you love? We believe that you need to know—to experience, to make memories and learn about—something in order to love it. And that when a person loves something, they will take action to protect it. Therefore, we recognize how vital it is to connect people with wild places and one another. We do this through fostering meaningful relationships with partners and constituents, grassroots organizing, educational outreach, engaging in mentorship opportunities, empowering advocacy, and leading place-based volunteer excursions.
WILDERNESS STEWARDSHIP
Here's your chance to get to know your wild lands and how to care for them.
ADMINISTRATIVE PROTECTIONS
We work to advocate for preservation of wilderness-worthy areas & to better protect sensitive natural resources on public lands.
LEGISLATION
For those outstanding trails, lands, and waters that deserve the certainty of permanent protection, we organize support for legislation and special designations.
Officers and Directors
Board President, Michael C. Quinlan, Ph.D., Tempe, Department of Physiology, Midwestern University
Vice President, Winnie Liang, Phoenix, Senior Scientist, Banner Alzheimer's Institute,Administrative Director, Arizona Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Secretary/Treasurer, Brandon Arents, Phoenix, Associate, Squire Patton Boggs, LLP
Kim Vacariu, Portal, Former Western Director, Wildlands Network, Media specialist, editor, and writer
Bart Koehler, Juneau, AK/Tucson, AZ, Independent campaign consultant, former Senior Wilderness Campaigns Director of the Wilderness Support Center, The Wilderness Society
Don Hoffman, Alpine, Past President of Wild Arizona, Former Wilderness Program Manager, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest Past Executive Director, Arizona Wilderness Coalition
(Ex Officio), Lynne Westerfield, Flagstaff, Executive Director, Wild Arizona
Emeritus Board
Doug Hulmes, Prescott, Professor of Environmental Studies, Prescott College
In Memoriam
Kim Crumbo, Ogden, UT Founding Board Member, former Conservation Director and Cofounder, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council
Advisors
Joel Barnes, Prescott, Riparia, LLC Former board member, Arizona Wilderness Coalition
Danny Giovale, Prescott, Founder and Owner, Kahtoola
