Speaking Springs Preserve as a Threshold Preserve
Speaking Springs Preserve, Four Corners Region, Utah
Paying homage to its cultural significance and recognizing the life-giving presence of water in the desert, The Wildlands Conservancy’s Cottonwood Wash property has been given a name — Speaking Springs Preserve. Within Speaking Springs Preserve towering sandstone walls shelter the dwellings of ancient civilizations, alcoves harbor hanging gardens brimming with endemic plant life, and vital wildlife corridors provide access to the San Juan River from the mesas above.
Speaking Springs Preserve is what The Wildlands Conservancy refers to as a ‘threshold’ preserve, meaning its adjacent proximity to public lands is strategic.
As an organization we intend to make a positive impact beyond the Preserve boundaries. Since our founding nearly 30 years ago, Wildlands has remained a strong and constant voice for the protection of the natural world. We recognize the need to continue to advocate for wild spaces and know that land is never saved, it is always being saved. There will always be opposition and effort to overturn what protection exists and for this reason, Wildlands acquires land where we can have the biggest conservation outcome possible. A good example of this is the California Desert land that Wildlands acquired which led to the creation of the Sand to Snow National Monument and the Mojave Trails National Monument.
Wildlands believes in land-based advocacy and we utilize the preserves and the visitation of the preserves to help influence policy at a broad level. When we acquire wilderness areas as a private landowner, we acquire the land to hold on to and to protect forever, to rewild species, and to provide free public access and outdoor education. As we provide opportunities for people to connect to the land, we are successful in fostering a love of place and respect for wildness, gaining new supporters along the way to join our mission in standing for nature and protecting wild spaces.
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed…We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in.”