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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Wilderness Watch objects to burning the Boundary Waters
In August 2025, Wilderness Watch submitted a formal objection to the Forest Service (FS) over its massive manipulation project that would set fire to as many as 84,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota.…
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Court rules Western wolves wrongly denied Endangered Species Act protections
On August 5, 2025, Federal District Judge Donald Molloy vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) 2024 determination that gray wolves in the Western U.S. do not warrant Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections and remanded the matter for…
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Helicopter roundup threatens Goshute Canyon and Becky Peak Wildernesses
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to potentially land helicopters in the Goshute Canyon and Becky Peak Wildernesses in Nevada to remove wild horses as part of its Antelope-Triple B Gather project. Wilderness Watch appreciates that the…
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Cattle once again grazing a long-closed area of the Superstition Wilderness
This spring, Wilderness Watch was alarmed to learn that the Forest Service recently and quietly allowed a long-vacant grazing allotment in the Superstition Wilderness in Arizona to once again be grazed by domestic cattle.
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A better plan needed to remove microwave reflector in the Roaring River Wilderness
Wilderness Watch commends the Forest Service (FS) for its goal of restoring part of the Roaring River Wilderness in Oregon by removing a microwave reflector, though we’re concerned about the agency’s proposal to complete this. The reflector was installed…
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Forest Service needs to manage Wilderness in the Northwest as Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is concerned about proposed amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) that could harm Wilderness, specifically by manipulating Wilderness with tree cutting and lighting fires, potentially via motorized and mechanized means. The plan covers 3.7 million acres…
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Great news for the Okefenokee Wilderness and National Wildlife Refuge
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has finalized a decision to expand the acquisition boundary of the 407,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Georgia by 22,000 acres. This means the agency can now negotiate to purchase lands…
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Grizzly bears need Endangered Species Act protection
On January 8, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected petitions from the states of Montana and Wyoming to strip grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies of their important federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. Unfortunately, on January…
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Taking steps to protect the Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness
The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to amend its Forest Plan for the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) to relocate part of the Webster Cliff Trail in the Presidential Range-Dry River Wilderness in New Hampshire. The WMNF has trailless…
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Cabinet Mountains Wilderness threatened by one of the world’s largest proposed copper and silver mines
Wilderness Watch is urging the Forest Service to protect the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwest Montana by rejecting the latest mine proposal by HECLA Mining. Conservationists have long worked to protect this Wilderness from one of the world’s largest…
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Habitat protection on the Flathead can’t wait
Wilderness Watch is urging the Forest Service to strengthen protections for the 219-mile Flathead Wild and Scenic River System as the agency considers new regulations and increased recreation monitoring. In warm months, the Flathead is flooded with anglers and…
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Burning proposed for the Boundary Waters
Wilderness Watch is urging the U.S. Forest Service to drop its massive manipulation project that would set fire to as many as 84,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in Minnesota. The misguided Fernberg Corridor Landscape…
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM