Wise Use

The wise use movement in the United States is a loose-knit coalition of groups promoting the expansion of private property rights and reduction of government regulation of publicly held property. This includes advocacy of expanded use by commercial and public interests, seeking increased access to public lands, and often opposition to government intervention. Wise use proponents describes human use of the environment as"stewardship of the land, the water and the air" for the benefit of human beings. The wise use movement arose from opposition to the environmental movement, and critics see it as anti-environmentalist.

Some organized opposition efforts have included environmental legislation such as wetland protection, and the Endangered Species Act. The group critiques most environmentalist ideology as radical, and argues that most such ideology aims to make fundamental changes to the mainstream political order.