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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Helicopters and landscaping don’t belong in Sequoia NP Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is urging the National Park Service to drop a proposal to use helicopters and chainsaws to plant 1,131 acres of giant sequoia plantations—all within the designated Wilderness of Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks. Recently, independent scientists reported they are…
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Lawsuit challenges unlawful expansion of aircraft landing areas in River of No Return Wilderness
On June 20, 2023 Wilderness Watch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Friends of the Bitterroot, and Friends of the Clearwater filed a lawsuit against the Payette National Forest in central Idaho challenging the Forest Service’s unlawful decisions to establish…
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Izembek still threatened
The Izembek Wilderness, its hundreds of species of wildlife, and all federal conservation lands in Alaska are in danger once again as the Biden administration moves forward with a potential land exchange that would allow a road to cut…
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Eightmile dam project threatens Alpine Lakes Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is urging the Washington Department of Ecology to analyze a wilderness-compatible alternative for replacing the dam on Eightmile Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The lake is part of the Icicle Creek watershed within the famously scenic…
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New Boundary Waters mining threat emerges
Wilderness Watch and our members breathed a sigh of relief in January 2022 when the Biden administration canceled two mining leases for the proposed Twin Metals mine. And again in January 2023, when the administration issued a 20-year moratorium…
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Protect trailless Wilderness in NH and ME
Wilderness Watch and Standing Trees are urging the Forest Service (FS) to reconsider its proposal to amend its Forest Plan in regards to Wilderness trail management in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) in New Hampshire and Maine. The…
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Keep Glacier Bay Wilderness Wild
The National Park Service (NPS) has released for public comment a new draft Backcountry and Wilderness Management Plan and environmental assessment (EA) for the Glacier Bay Wilderness in Alaska. While there are some good aspects to the draft Plan,…
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Predator killing rule goes back to the drawing board
The National Park Service (NPS) has a draft new rule for governing hunting on the 19 million acres of National Preserves in Alaska, including over eight million acres of designated Wilderness. This new rule would overturn a similar rule…
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North Cascades NP plan degrades Wilderness
The National Park Service (NPS) is considering a plan to reroute a trail and relocate as well as build additional campsites in the Stephen Mather Wilderness within North Cascades National Park in Washington. Wilderness Watch is urging the NPS…
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WW Sues to Stop Motorboat Abuse in Boundary Waters
In February 2023, Wilderness Watch filed a second round of litigation challenging unlawful and excessive commercial, motorized towboat use in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northeastern Minnesota. The 1.1 million-acre BWCAW is the largest Wilderness east…
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Good News for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
Wilderness Watch supported two recent moves by the Biden administration to stop a massive underground and open-pit copper-nickel sulfide-ore mine—some of the most toxic mining on the planet—in the watershed of the fabled Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)…
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What is BLM hiding?
Wilderness Watch filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on January 18, 2023. We’re challenging the agency’s years-long withholding of documents covering livestock grazing activities in Wilderness areas. Government transparency is vital to the policy and…
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM