An open letter to the conservation community: Western Watersheds Project and 87 other conservation groups call for new direction in wilderness bills.

According to the letter, just four of the wilderness bills currently before Congress would release 400,000 acres of Wilderness Study Areas and give away over 80,000 acres of public land.

Along with a lot of other frightening things.

The signatories call for an end to wilderness bills that contain vast land giveaways, establish "select groups to exercise local control over public lands," and permit water pipelines, off-road vehicle use, military manuevers and other activities that are incompatible with wilderness. You can read the "open letter" here (.pdf).