Accomplishments
Since our inception in 1989, Wilderness Watch has played an important role in assuring that management agencies abide by the Wilderness Act and other laws that protect the integrity of our wilderness heritage. Here’s a quick look at a few of our accomplishments:
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Victory: Air Force drops Gila overflights plan!
Due to public pressure, the U.S. Air Force in January 2021 dropped its proposal for up to 10,000 F-16 fighter jet “sorties” a year over America’s (and the world’s) first Wilderness—the Gila—and seven other Wildernesses in southern New Mexico—the Aldo Leopold, Apache Kid, Withington, Bosque del Apache, Sierra de las Uvas, Broad Canyon, and Robledo Wildernesses.…
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Helicopter Net-Gun Capture Stopped in Wasatch Wildernesses
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) has dropped its proposal to use helicopters to net-gun capture and collar mountain goats and bighorn sheep in the Mt. Timpanogos, Lone Peak, and Twin Peak Wildernesses in the Wasatch Mountains. Wilderness Watch and other groups had filed an objection to the proposal, which was antithetical to Wilderness in numerous ways.…
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WW Stops Wilderness “Chainsaw Massacre” in Colorado
On June 4, Wilderness Watch and two co-plaintiff organizations filed a motion for preliminary injunction against the US Forest Service for secretly approving an unprecedented plan to allow chainsaws for clearing trails throughout the Weminuche and South San Juan Wildernesses in Colorado. A week later, we learned that the Forest Service had withdrawn its decision.
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A Good Decision for the Charles C. Deam Wilderness
Wilderness Watch helped support a good Forest Service (FS) decision dealing with road access to old cemeteries in the 12,472-acre Charles C. Deam Wilderness in Indiana…Under a 1999 policy, the FS not only allowed public access, but allowed public motor vehicle access on old former roads. Over time, interest in accessing these cemeteries has decreased to only…
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Remove Pemigewasset Wilderness Bridge
In a good decision for Wilderness, the Forest Service (FS) has removed an unsafe log bridge over the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River in the Pemigewasset Wilderness in New Hampshire. In keeping with the spirit of the Wilderness Act, the FS stated that visitors must “meet nature on its terms.” The 46,000-acre Pemigewasset, known…
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A Wilderness Win for the North Fork John Day Wilderness
Following an objection by Wilderness Watch, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest withdrew a draft decision on a proposal to conduct a “prescribed fire” on up to 9,557 acres of the North Fork John Day Wilderness. Wilderness Watch, with Blue Mountains Biodiversity Project, led a formal administrative objection to the Ten Cent Community Fire Protection Project Final…
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Victory for River of No Return Wilderness and Its Wildlife
In a major victory for Wilderness and wildlife, on March 9, 2020, federal Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled in January 2017 that the Forest Service’s approval of Idaho Fish and Game’s helicopter-assisted elk-collaring project in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (FC-RONRW) was unlawful, that Idaho Fish and Game illegally collared four wolves, and…
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BLM drops Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness juniper project
In 2016, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) withdrew its misguided plan to cut junipers across more than 600,000 acres of the Owyhee Canyonlands in Idaho. Wilderness Watch has opposed this drastic tree-clearing project which originally called for cutting trees across 47,000 acres of Wilderness…
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Kootznoowoo Wilderness Spared an Airport
In a great victory for the Kootznoowoo Wilderness, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), with the support and urging of Wilderness Watch and our supporters around the country, decided in 2016 to site the Angoon Airport outside the boundaries of the Kootznoowoo Wilderness in southeast Alaska. the nearly million-acre Wilderness on Admiralty Island is home to…
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Victory for Owyhee Wildernesses in Idaho!
Wilderness Watch, joined by Western Watersheds Project, won a significant victory in 2016 for the six Wildernesses in the Owyhee region in Idaho. The victory came in our settlement of an appeal of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Owyhee Canyonlands Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Management Plan. Our appeal challenged decisions approving commercial…
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Military Drops Plans to Land Helicopters in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
In April 2016, the U.S. Army announced its decision to drop its plan to land helicopters on a number of high-altitude sites on the east side of the Cascades in Washington as part of its military combat training exercises. One site would have been within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Wilderness Watch submitted scoping comments on…
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A Better Plan for Trail Work in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness
The Forest Service (FS) has made a good decision for the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in Washington due to pressure from Wilderness Watch and others. The agency’s original Talapus Lake trail reconstruction project included using helicopters to ferry several dozen loads of materials and using motorized rock drills to reroute the three-mile trail to Talapus Lake….
Photo: Cumberland Island Wilderness, Georgia by Jessica Howell-Edwards