Bill Worf by Mike Hudak
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Ranching Damage in Pine Creek Basin
(South Warner Wilderness, CA)

 
Bill Worf grew up on a ranch near Rosebud, MT, then served in the US Marines during World War II before matriculating at the University of Montana. Upon earning his BS degree in forestry/range in 1950, Mr. Worf began a 31-year career with the US Forest Service, assuming positions of district ranger on the Ashley NF (Utah), staff officer at the regional office in Ogden, staff officer on the Fishlake NF (Utah), and supervisor of the Bridger NF (Wyoming). In 1965, Mr. Worf was assigned to head the agency’s development of policy for implementing the 1964 Wilderness Act. Subsequently, he served as director for wilderness, recreation, and lands at the regional office in Missoula, MT.

In 1989, Mr. Worf co-founded Wilderness Watch—the only national environmental organization dedicated to encouraging the government to better care for existing wilderness.

Mr. Worf received the Keith Corrigall Wilderness Stewardship Award in 2003 from the International Journal of Wilderness in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in wilderness protection and stewardship.

In this video, Bill Worf describes environmental damage caused by livestock grazing at Pine Creek Basin in California’s South Warner Wilderness. And he explains how rural social pressure on Forest Service employees can induce them to approve livestock management that favors ranchers, while causing such environment damage.

Recorded in August 2004. This video is an excerpt from Bill Worf’s interview in Western Turf Wars: The Politics of Public Lands Ranching.