You defended the Washakie Wilderness!
In an impressive third act, written entirely by the public, you stopped the logging and removal of the survey tree in the Washakie Wilderness—and you saved more than we realized.
Blog
If a tree falls in the Wilderness, will we hear (about) it?
The U.S. Forest Service has approved a tree-cutting project in the Washakie Wilderness in Wyoming behind closed doors. Does it promote a wilderness ethic? Certainly not. Will it violate the Wilderness Act? Most likely. Will the public know the full details about this project before it is complete? Unlikely. Should the Forest Service still hear from you on this? YES, ABSOLUTELY.
Wilderness Watch is in D.C. this week and we need your backup
Wilderness Watch staff are in Washington, D.C. to educate and urge members of Congress to take action to protect Wilderness—and we could use your help!
Forest Service ignores federal laws to open River of No Return Wilderness to noisy chainsaws
After a year of secret, behind-closed-door negotiations, the U.S. Forest Service recently authorized massive amounts of gas-powered chainsaw use in the largest contiguous Wilderness in the Lower 48 with no opportunities for public comment, no environmental review, and no regard for federal laws, including the Wilderness Act.
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.
The best approach to the preservation of Wilderness continues to be to leave it alone
By Suzanne Cable Contradictory to what is advocated for in a recent article by U.S. Forest Service research fellow Clare E. Boerigter about protecting Wilderness by purposefully “tending it,” the best approach to the overall stewardship of federally designated Wilderness managed in the United States is to do as the 1964 Wilderness Act dictates: leave…
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…
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.
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.
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.
Congressional Review Act: A new tool for lawmakers to radically meddle in public land management
Radical? Not me. In a House Natural Resources Committee hearing earlier this year, after one lawmaker finished complaining about “radical environmentalists” a second lawmaker bemusedly opined that no one is just an “environmentalist” anymore; nowadays all environmentalists are radical environmentalists.
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.