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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Ambler Road one step closer to being stopped
On April 19, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its final supplemental environmental analysis for the Ambler Road project, a proposal by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) to build a 211-mile road across the south slope of…
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Wilderness Watch, allies challenge federal decision denying protection for western wolves
On April 8, Wilderness Watch and nine conservation groups filed a new lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its failure to list western wolves under the Endangered Species Act—a failure that ignores obvious threats to gray…
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The National Park Service needs to protect the wild in the Everglades
Wilderness Watch is urging the National Park Service to develop a strong new Wilderness Stewardship Plan for the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Wilderness in Everglades National Park in South Florida. Unfortunately, the agency seems headed down the wrong path with…
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Forest Service needs to let ANILCA cabins be phased out
When Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980, there were numerous existing, privately built cabins on federal lands in Alaska, including lands ANILCA designated as Wilderness. Some of the cabins had been authorized under…
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Fish and Wildlife Service rule could help end carnivore killing on wildlife refuges
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a new rule on “biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health” for America’s national wildlife refuge system. The rule could have a far-reaching impact on the refuge system, which includes nearly 21…
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Don’t blame beavers for human folly
Wilderness Watch is opposing a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to manipulate habitat in the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Montana, 32,350 acres of which is the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness. The USFWS released…
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Wildernesses in Washington targeted for military jet training
The U.S. Navy has proposed the creation of new military airspaces for jet training exercises in Washington State. Unfortunately, the airspaces would overlap with two Wildernesses—the Pasayten and Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wildernesses—and threaten to destroy the solitude and silence found…
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Massive strip mine threatens one of the East’s largest Wildernesses
The Okefenokee Wilderness, part of one of the world’s largest still intact blackwater swamp ecosystems and important habitat for native wildlife such as black bears, American alligators, and red-cockaded woodpeckers, is once again threatened by a titanium and zirconium…
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Legal action initiated to protect wolves
On February 2, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would not re-list gray wolves in the northern Rockies under the Endangered Species Act, finding them “not warranted” for federal protection.
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The “Protecting America’s Rock Climbing Act” will weaken the Wilderness Act
Wilderness and wildlife are under relentless pressures at this moment in history, including from exploding demand for outdoor recreation. Unfortunately, right now some members of Congress are pushing a bill to allow permanent “fixed anchor” rock climbing in America’s National…
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Protect the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex from outfitter impacts
Wilderness Watch is concerned with a Forest Service proposal to renew existing outfitter permits in the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Great Bear Wildernesses in Northwestern Montana—which collectively comprise the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex—without disclosing which permits, their locations, or any…
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Defending Wilderness and wildlife in Nevada
Wilderness Watch started the new year by filing an amicus brief at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on January 2, 2024 to rein in Wildlife Services’ wanton killing of native wildlife in Nevada, including the potential for killing…
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM