Keeping Wilderness WILD!
Read Wilderness Watch’s blog.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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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Trump administration attacks iconic wildlands in Alaska
On October 23, the Trump administration launched fresh attacks on three iconic wildlands in Alaska, places that Wilderness Watch, our members and supporters, and our conservation allies have fought to safeguard for decades.
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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…
Photo: Joseph Battell Wilderness, Vermont by Dawn Serra