The Stanislaus Wilderness Volunteers (SWV) are a diverse and growing team of Wilderness loving citizens from all walks of life who are united by a shared love of the idea of American Wilderness. The mission of Stanislaus Wilderness Volunteers is to preserve the wilderness character of designated public lands through education, example and coordinated effort in direct support of US Forest Service work in the Emigrant, Carson-Iceberg, and Mokolumne Wilderness areas of the Stanislaus National Forest.

The Stanislaus Wilderness Volunteers were formed in 1991 by a group of citizens with a love of the wilderness in response to a crisis situation in the management of our region’s wilderness areas. Recreation visits to Forest Service lands have jumped from 4.6 million in 1924 to 900 million in 1999, while federal budgets for land management are being reduced. Americans are “loving their parks to death”.

Wilderness is an irreplaceable American resource, a fragile environment most vulnerable to the increasing number of visitors. Nearly 1/4 of the Stanislaus National Forest is Designated Wilderness. The Emigrant, Carson-Iceberg and Mokelumne Wilderness Areas represent a magnificent segment of the Sierra Nevada…John Muir’s Range of Light. Stanislaus Wilderness Volunteers educate the public to prevent damage to the wilderness, and engage in projects to restore areas impacted by overuse.