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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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Liberty Bell Inventoried Roadless Area, which abuts the Pasayten Wildernesss, by Suzanne Cable

Why roadless areas matter for Wilderness preservation

We should all be deeply concerned about the most recent challenge to the integrity of America’s national forests—the proposed repeal of the 2001 U.S. Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Rule. This could open up nearly 45 million acres of our public lands to road-building, logging, mining, and development.

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Dolly Sods Wilderness

The “Eastern Wilderness Act” turns 50

The Eastern Wilderness Areas Act celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Like handfuls of statutes that designated multiple Wilderness areas, this statute—which technically declares no statutory title despite being commonly known as the “Eastern Wilderness Act”—designated 15 Wildernesses and 17 Wilderness Study Areas in the eastern states to be managed as Wilderness until the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) evaluated them for Congress.

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Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness trail crew by USFS

When the dust settles: Creating an agency worthy of Wilderness

The news is filled with stories of how the Trump administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have fired thousands of federal employees who work for our public land agencies. Though Trump had been talking about gutting the federal workforce, the way it was done without regard for how it would affect the agencies’ ability to carry out their responsibilities came as quite a shock.

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