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ABOUT AWCOur HistoryThe Arizona Wilderness Coalition (AWC) was created in the 1970's in response to the Forest Service RARE-II process under the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Review, directed by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. By design, those processes were more about "releasing" lands from wilderness consideration than they were about designating wilderness. However, through the efforts of a band of dedicated volunteers guided by Joni Bosh and Rob Smith of the Sierra Club, the AWC was instrumental in getting 3.5 million acres of new wilderness designated in Arizona through 1984 and 1990 legislation. More important, the AWC managed to stave off hard release language, which today allows for the reconsideration of over five million acres of public lands for permanent wilderness protection. In December 2000, about fifty wilderness activists met in Phoenix for the purpose of rejuvenating the formerly all-volunteer AWC. It was determined that the AWC should be reorganized to coordinate the efforts of the various greassroots groups across the state involved in protecting wildlands, while also providing cohesive leadership statewide. Member groups have missions that go beyond wildland protection. It was decided, therefore, that the AWC would focus exclusively on roadless and wildland protections, including advocating for wilderness and wild and scenic river designations. At a subsequent meeting, a 13-member Board of Directors was elected to reorganize and oversee the AWC and to hire a director. Organizational Structure AWC now has offices in Tucson, Phoenix, and Prescott. AWC’s Tucson office houses AWC’s Executive Director and Membership Coordinator. AWC’s Phoenix office houses our Communication Director, Community Organizer, and Sonoran Desert Outreach-Volunteer Coordinator. AWC’s Central Arizona Director works out of Prescott College, where we partner with the College and benefit from numerous interns, volunteers, work study students and recent graduates to expand our on the ground capacity in the region. Visit our staff page! AWC’s capacity to undertake Wilderness and Wild & Scenic River work continues to grow as our on the ground successes build. Our membership is growing rapidly and we continue to develop partnerships and coalitions as needed around the state to best advance our work on each of our separate projects and efforts on behalf of wilderness. Photo: Arizona Wilderness Coalition January 2009 staff retreat. Missing from photo: Paula Toffolo, Liana MacNeill
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AWC is a coalition of almost 1,500 individuals, businesses, and partner organizations working to protect Arizona’s wild places. AWC takes the lead across the majority of the state, including the western and southwestern deserts, all of central Arizona, and the eastern mountain regions. In the Grand Canyon region and southeast portions of the state we partner with, take the lead from, and provide support for partner groups who are local experts and have on-the-ground staff. There's no need to duplicate the work they are already doing.