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.
-
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge still threatened
In September 2023, we celebrated the news that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland had canceled the last remaining Trump-era oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which were held by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority…
-
Let Yellowstone Buffalo Roam
The National Park Service (NPS) has released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for a new Bison Management Plan at Yellowstone National Park to replace a hopelessly outdated and harmful plan. Wilderness Watch is urging that the plan be…
-
WW sues NPS to protect Wilderness in Sequoia and Kings Canyon
Wilderness Watch, Sequoia ForestKeeper, Tule River Conservancy, and the John Muir Project have filed a lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS), challenging the agency’s unlawful decision to implement extensive and motorized tree cutting, burning, and planting across thousands…
-
Keep cattle out of the Arrastra Mountain Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is opposing a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposal to authorize cattle grazing in the 31,792-acre Palmerita Ranch Allotment, which includes 4,200 acres within the Arrastra Mountain Wilderness northwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
-
Protect Isle Royale’s solitude and wild character
The National Park Service has issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a Wilderness Stewardship Plan at Isle Royale Wilderness and National Park. The agency is considering a range of actions for managing Wilderness and cultural resources. In addition,…
-
Red Rock Lakes Wilderness pipeline project withdrawn
On September 15, 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service withdrew a controversial water-diversion pipeline project in the Red Rock Lakes Wilderness in southwestern Montana following a lawsuit by Wilderness Watch, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Gallatin Wildlife Association,…
-
It’s time to remove domestic sheep in the High Uintas Wilderness
Wilderness Watch is opposing a plan that would continue to permit domestic sheep grazing in critical bighorn sheep habitat in the High Uintas Wilderness in Utah. This nearly half-million acre Wilderness protects Utah’s highest peaks, hundreds of lakes, and…
-
Wilderness be undammed
The City of Missoula, Montana is proposing to breach the 15-foot-high earthen dam it owns on McKinley Lake in the Rattlesnake Wilderness to the north. The dam is in poor condition and no longer used for its original purposes of…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
Photo: Desolation Wilderness, Utah by Bob Wick/BLM