Wilderness 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 below and on our blog about current Wilderness issues we’re working on.
-
Clean Water Act permit suspended for Izembek road construction
The fight to keep the Izembek Wilderness wild continues! As we shared with you recently, on August 18 U.S. Federal District Judge Sharon Gleason vacated the Trump administration’s illegal land exchange to transfer public lands within the Izembek National…
-
Forest Service withdraws project to torch all seven Wilderness areas on the Shawnee National Forest
Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service released a Prescribed Burn Project with plans to burn all 289,000 acres of the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, including all seven Wilderness areas totaling nearly 30,000 acres. Incredibly, forest Service…
-
A legal victory for the Izembek Wilderness and its wildlife
On August 18, thanks to a lawsuit from Wilderness Watch and our allies, a U.S. District Court ruled that the Interior Department violated federal laws when it gave away federally protected public lands to the King Cove Corporation to…
-
Emergency legal action filed to stop road building in Izembek Wilderness and National Wildlife Refuge
On July 24, 2026, Wilderness Watch and allied groups filed a motion requesting that the court stop all road building activities in the Izembek Wilderness and National Wildlife Refuge while our recently filed lawsuit makes its way through court.
-
Reining in overuse in the Lizard Head Wilderness
Earlier this spring, the Forest Service invited Wilderness Watch to a meeting after we submitted comments on the agency’s proposal to rein in overuse at Navajo Lake in the Lizard Head Wilderness in southwestern Colorado. The Wilderness is in…
-
Defend Wilderness from permanent climbing installations
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to revise its directives to provide guidance on recreational rock climbing on our National Forests, including guidance required by the EXPLORE Act for climbing in Wilderness.
-
BLM is trying to rig the rules and turning a blind eye to profiteers looting Wilderness
The Bureau of Land Management received more than 105,000 public comments on its proposed overhaul of federal grazing regulations governing approximately 155 million acres of public land during spring 2026. The proposed regulations, like many Trump efforts, seek to…
-
Chainsaws in Wilderness
In May, the U.S. Forest Service authorized the use of chainsaws by commercial outfitters and guides for seven months a year (January 1 to August 1) for three years on 542 miles of trail in the Frank Church-River of…
-
Close Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is pushing back on a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to open the Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness just northwest of Canyonlands National Park in Utah to more backcountry aircraft. We’re opposing the…
-
New lawsuit challenges wildlife killing by federal agents inside Wilderness
Together with our allies, in May 2026, we filed a new lawsuit challenging the U.S. government’s policy of allowing federal agents to kill native wildlife—including wolves, bears, mountain lions, and coyotes using poisons, traps, and aerial gunning—inside designated Wilderness.
-
Park Service proposing cruel hunting practices on National Preserves in Alaska
Wilderness Watch is opposing a proposed National Park Service (NPS) rule that allows cruel and grossly unethical hunting practices on national preserves in Alaska, including on over eight million acres of Wilderness. This rule, by essentially turning wildlife management…
-
Forest Service drops controversial Mission Mountains Wilderness burn plan
In good news for the Mission Mountains Wilderness in Montana, this spring the Forest Service withdrew its controversial Mid-Swan Landscape Restoration and WUI Project final environmental impact statement and draft record of decision.
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM