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Moose in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness by briandjan607

Fernberg Corridor Project decision shields the Boundary Waters Wilderness from human meddling

Fans of the Boundary Waters and Wilderness in general should celebrate the recent decision by Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall on the Fernberg Corridor Project. His decision allows activities outside the Wilderness to proceed, but wisely excludes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) from the project’s earlier proposed activities.

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FOIA reveals U.S. Forest Service considering nationwide chainsaw use in Wilderness

Wilderness Watch recently intercepted a letter from the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association (IOGA) to U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz requesting permission to use chainsaws in Wilderness in Idaho for trail maintenance. In response, Wilderness Watch reached out to the Salmon-Challis National Forest, but we were effectively stonewalled. While Forest Supervisor Heather Degeest admitted…

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Sequoia Kings Canyon

For Wilderness to remain wild, it must remain unmanipulated

A recent piece by a U.S. Forest Service research fellow supporting manipulating designated Wilderness areas showed a profound misunderstanding about Wilderness, its history, its stewardship policies, and the Wilderness Act itself. The author’s proposed solution would result in the loss of the very quality for which Congress designated Wildernesses: their wildness.

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Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA

It’s time to protect Wilderness from livestock grazing

Recent reporting has exposed some of the many ongoing problems with livestock grazing on federal public lands. These problems include great resource damage, little oversight or repair of that damage, and the oversized political influence of ranchers and wealthy landowners. Despite this recent attention, little has been written about the many problems that livestock grazing causes, specifically to designated Wilderness and its native wildlife.

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Sheep grazing in the High Uintas Wilderness by Ken Lund

Domestic sheep grazing and Wilderness are always at odds

Stumbling over the rugged alpine landscape of the High Uintas Wilderness, a bighorn lamb is coughing and struggling, afflicted with pneumonia as the cold skies of winter set in. Here in northeastern Utah, a battle between domestication and wildness has been raging for three decades, while the West’s wild bighorns have fought for survival for over two centuries.

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Bob Marshall Wilderness by Howie Wolke

They will not replace me if I leave: A wilderness ranger’s 2025 season

I’m a quarter mile into my hike when the tears start to fall. I can’t control them these days. I’m at work, wearing my uniform, and I do not want to be crying right now. I briefly contemplate walking into the bushes and breaking down for a few minutes. I pull my sunglasses over my eyes and keep walking, wiping away the tears as they continue to fall. This is my new normal. Anxiety, sadness, and anger are my constant companions.

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John Muir Wilderness by René Voss

RIP NEPA

Our leaders are letting the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) die. But, maybe that’s okay. It’s time for a National Environmental Protection Act.

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Ansel Adams Wilderness by René Voss

Torching the “Range of Light”

Moved by the radiance of sunbursts bouncing between granite peaks, John Muir once called the Sierras the “Range of Light.” Now, a century later, millions of acres of Wilderness and wild forest in the Range of Light are under threat of reckless cutting and incineration at the hands of those tasked with guarding them.

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