MS Rangers sign The National Wilderness Preservation System was created by Passage of the Wilderness Act of 1964.  Mississippi has three federally protected Wilderness Areas: Black Creek, Gulf Islands, and Leaf – totaling just over 10,000 acres.  Wild South first expanded its successful Volunteer Wilderness Ranger Program into Mississippi in June of 2012, deploying two Wilderness Rangers in the DeSoto National Forest. During the next two years Wild South rangers and volunteers worked with the United States Forest Service to meet the baseline wilderness management standards by 2014. Wilderness Rangers ensured that the Leaf and Black Creek Wilderness Areas benefited from the successful treatment of invasive plants, protection of solitude and primitive recreation, recreational site inventory, and updates on resource conditions and priority information for managers.

Our volunteer wilderness rangers are trained in Leave No Trace, CPR and First Aid, crosscut saw, GPS and radioMS Wild creek protocol, and Wilderness law. All volunteer activities support USFS management goals and are covered under the USDA Volunteers in National Forests program, protecting volunteers from costs associated with personal injury. Volunteers always patrol in pairs and are provided with all equipment needed to perform their duties as a volunteer wilderness ranger.

Black Creek is Mississippi’s only nationally designated Wild and Scenic River, and nearly 5 miles of river bisect the 5,052 acres of the beautifully unique coastal plain ecosystem where one can find plenty of  sandy bottomed streams and oxbow lakes.

 

If you think you might be interested in joining our ranger team, email Nkrumah Frazier at Nkrumah@wildsouth.org or call 601-307-7521. Our Wilderness Areas need YOU!

Posted in Championing Wilderness, Volunteer, VWR MS, Wilderness Advocacy, Wilderness Stewardship