We have great news! In April 2021, the Forest Service (FS) decided to drop its ill-conceived massive burn project for up to 1.7-plus million acres of the Targhee National Forest in Wyoming. The agency had planned to approved this Trump-era plan via a Categorical Exclusion (CE)—meaning without proper environmental analysis or public input. The FS’s plan would have impacted the Palisades Wilderness Study Area (WSA), plus Recommended Wilderness and Inventoried Roadless Areas.The Targhee is part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and critical habitat for native wildlife such as wolves and grizzly bears.
The Forest Service’s plan would have trammeled the Palisades WSA despite the agency’s obligation to manage the area to preserve its wilderness character, which includes not interfering with natural processes. Additionally, it is unclear to what degree helicopter use or mechanical treatment (read cutting of trees)—both of which are generally excluded in Wilderness—would have occured in the WSA. The Jedediah Smith and Winegar Hole Wildernesses were not included in this burn plan, but could have been impacted if the FS ignited fires up to the wilderness boundaries.
If these impacts to the Palisades WSA, and potentially to the Jedediah Smith and Winegar Hole Wildernesses, weren’t bad enough, the project area was far too large and the information far too limited for the Forest Service to make any kind of informed decision using a Categorical Exclusion as it had proposed.
We are grateful for the nearly 13,000 WW members and supporters who spoke up to protect the area and helped convince the FS to drop its project. Thank you!
Photo: Howie Wolke
