Wild Issues
For over 35 years, Wilderness Watch has been the leading national organization whose sole focus is the preservation and proper stewardship of lands and rivers included in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Learn more about current Wilderness issues we’re working on.
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Protect the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain from oil and gas development
In February 2026, the Trump administration opened a 30-day “Call for Nominations and Comments for the 2026 Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Lease Sale” period during which oil and gas companies were invited to indicate interest in bidding on…
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Protect Wilderness in the Flathead Wild and Scenic River corridor
Roughly 87 miles of the 219-mile Flathead Wild and Scenic River System runs through the gorges and valleys of one of America’s most celebrated Wilderness areas—the 1.6 million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana. The “Bob,” as it’s known,…
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Forest Service could torch 30,000 acres of Wilderness on the Shawnee
Wilderness Watch is opposing a U.S. Forest Service proposal to burn almost 30,000 acres of Wilderness on the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois under the guise of “fuels reduction” and “ecological restoration.” This type of sweeping manipulation is…
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Cumberland Island deserves better
Cumberland Island National Seashore and Wilderness in southern Georgia—with its massive live oak maritime forests, saltwater marshes, and spectacular white sand beach is the largest undeveloped barrier island on the eastern seaboard and one of the gems of America’s…
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Great Bear Wilderness threatened by logging on its boundaries
Wilderness Watch is concerned about the Forest Service’s (FS) Granite Moccasin Project, a proposal to log 4,689 acres across the Flathead National Forest in northwest Montana, including 175 acres next to the Great Bear Wilderness. The FS is relying…
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Threatened wolverines need critical habitat designated
No critter exemplifies our nation’s wilderness heritage more than the tenacious and beautiful wolverine. Wolverines are among the most wilderness-dependent mammals in the lower 48 states, persisting only in remote, high-elevation landscapes with deep snow and minimal human disturbance.…
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Protect trailless areas on the White Mountain National Forest
Wilderness Watch is concerned about the Forest Service’s (FS) proposal to amend its Forest Plan in regards to wilderness trail management on the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in New Hampshire and Maine. The agency is trying to do…
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Wilderness Watch sues Interior for illegal land swap threatening Izembek
On November 12, 2025, Wilderness Watch and our allies sued the Interior Department and King Cove Corporation in U.S. District Court for signing a land exchange agreement with the sole purpose of facilitating the construction of a 13-mile road through the…
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Protect the “unconfined” Worthington Mountain Wilderness
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering permitting a cattleranching company to install more than a mile of permanent fencing in the Worthington Mountain Wilderness in Nevada, despite the Wilderness Act’s prohibition on permanent structures that fail to…
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Wilderness Watch stops poisoning plan in Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
In a landmark victory for wilderness protection, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in favor of Wilderness Watch and struck down the Forest Service’s approval of a plan by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to poison more than…
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Wilderness Watch files lawsuit to prevent private road through Lusk Creek Wilderness
Wilderness Watch, with our partners at Heartwood, filed a lawsuit on September 30, 2025 challenging the Forest Service’s authorization of a 2.5-mile motorized road through the heart of the Lusk Creek Wilderness in the Shawnee National Forest of southern…
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Proposal to increase wolf killing in the Bob Marshall Wilderness defeated
In August 2025, Montana’s Fish and Wildlife Commission presented a number of possible changes to its statewide wolf management plan, including a proposal that would directly and negatively impact the Bob Marshall Wilderness by greatly expanding wolf killing to…
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM