Western Watersheds Project

10/16/2026

>> Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, praised the judge’s decision. Molvar told Outside that the proposed changes could weaken the agency’s ability to protect public lands.

“You can’t have responsible public lands management and enforcement of environmental regulations without staff inside the federal agencies,” Molvar said.

A new court ruling temporarily stopped the agency from moving its headquarters to Utah and closing nine regional offices. Critics warn the overhaul could weaken environmental protections across 193 million acres of public land.

10/16/2026

In their joint comments to the U.S. Forest Service, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council, the chief lobbying arm for those grazing on federal lands, write in support of the administration’s preferred alternative for the Roadless Rule, which is to eliminate it in its entirety.

Ranchers want more roads, logging, grazing infrastructure, and the ability to reopen so-called “vacant” allotments - those that haven’t had any cattle or sheep for years, sometimes decades. They argue that roads and other infrastructure are necessary to maintain fences and water systems, move livestock, and make commercial livestock grazing easier.

The ranching groups that call themselves conservationists are urging the Forest Service to open roadless forests to more roads, logging and livestock grazing.

10/16/2026

A peer-reviewed analysis of USDA data found that wolves accounted for no more than 0.05% of cattle inventory in any of four states studied (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Wisconsin). The estimates included confirmed and probable losses. Cattle were far more likely to die from health problems, weather, parasites or birthing complications. Livestock losses to wolves qualify for reimbursement payments at 100% of market value.

And grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a right. Public lands provide less than 1.6% of the forage consumed by beef cattle.

Livestock grazing is the leading cause of species endangerment in the West.

Read the release and letters: https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2026/10/12/following-president-trumps-executive-order-usda-urges-states-review-wolf-management-policies-and

10/15/2026

Please take one moment today to call your Senators to oppose provisions in the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act that weaken protections for endangered wildlife, clean water, and communities.

10/15/2026

>> Wolves don’t have to be killed to prevent conflicts with cattle. Examples of non-lethal methods of wolf control include sounding sirens or shooting paintballs, as well as deterrents like electric fencing. According to a 2025 analysis, these methods had a greater impact on reducing predation than hunting wolves.

“Living on a landscape with wolves can be stressful to a rancher,” Eric Clewis, Northern Rockies senior representative at Defenders of Wildlife, told Sentient in an email, “but that’s why investing in real solutions, like non-lethal tools, is so important and has great impact.”

The move was meant to appeal to ranchers but the industry’s response was muted.

10/15/2026

A Navajo Nation community about 20 miles outside Page passed another resolution last month rejecting a proposed copper mine. It’s the latest local decree against mining approved by tribal members.

A mining company executive told KNAU the proposal is effectively stalled unless the community changes its mind.

A mining company executive said the proposal to dig for copper is effectively stalled unless the community changes its mind.

10/15/2026

>> “USDA employees that were surveyed writ large … 90% of the workers facing involuntary translocations would quit instead of move,” Western Watersheds Project Executive Director Erik Molvar told WyoFile. “This is really about getting rid of federal agency personnel, which is bad for the land, bad for the wildlife, and it’s bad for responsible management of our national forests.”

There was strong support for the Forest Service reorganization and state-based model in some circles. The bipartisan Western Governor’s Association, for example, was in favor of the plans. But Molvar perceived some pitfalls for the broader public good.

“Certainly the state of Wyoming would love to meddle in federal land management, and pretend that only the interests of Wyoming residents should matter in federal land management issues,” Molvar said. “But the reality is that the federal lands belong equally to all Americans, and Wyoming locals shouldn’t have any greater or lesser influence on these decisions than members of the public from other states.”

The Trump administration has seven business days to comply with an order temporarily halting a major reorganization of an agency that manages nearly 200 million acres of public land.

10/15/2026

In 1991, BLM completed a land exchange that resulted in public acquisition of nearly 47K acres of private land within the Humboldt and Bruneau River watersheds in northern Nevada. As part of the agreement, numerous livestock exclosures and riparian pastures were created on the new public lands, including roughly 25,000 acres along the Marys River and several tributaries.

The largest of these areas, known as the Marys River Riparian Management Area (RMA), restricted cattle use along approximately 15 mi of the watershed downstream from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and Jarbidge Wilderness, and along an additional 12 mi of mainstem Marys River north of I-80. While there has been occasional trespass livestock in the RMA, these areas have now been closed to authorized grazing for 35 years.

The result of livestock exclusion has been amazing. The aspen, willow, and cottonwood galleries regrowing along the expanding floodplain have allowed beavers to create lush wetlands and meadows that provide habitat for threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout, amphibians like Columbia spotted frog and northern leopard frog, small mammals like shrews, and diverse pollinators.

These river reaches are designated as an Important Bird Area for the many species of migratory birds that nest there, like warblers, flycatchers, Lewis’s woodpecker, and sandhill crane. River otter and native mussels are also found in the Marys River, and moose that have colonized northern Nevada in recent years find excellent habitat along the dense riparian corridors. Upland seeps and springs are important for sage grouse, pronghorn, and mule deer.

The watershed-scale ecological recovery along the Marys River is a roaring success—something BLM should be striving to replicate across the Great Basin. Instead, it is considering reopening the Marys River to cows.

Read more: https://westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/thirty-five-years-without-cows-transformed

10/14/2026

TOMORROW in Aspen!

Following the film, a panel discussion will be held and includes the filmmaker, Susan Kucera; Eric Washburn, fifth-generation Coloradon, ecologist and hunter, Cristina Eisenberg, a Native American ecologist, author and wolf expert; Delaney Rudy, conservation advocate for Western Watersheds Project; Mark Harvey, Aspen Journalism board president, a Colorado rancher, writer and photographer; and Tony Vagneur, a local rancher, author of “Aspen: Then and Now” and an Aspen Times columnist.

Ticket information can be found in the article.

The Colorado premiere of

10/14/2026

>> Matthew Bishop, attorney for Western Watersheds Project, addressed the quandary of deference before he presented the scientific arguments that countered the Service’s claims that wolves in the West weren’t likely to go extinct in the future, given current conditions and regulations that are already causing wolf numbers to decline in Montana and Idaho. The courts are required to give the most deference when it comes to scientific matters.

“The agency has to earn deference. The agency has to make a reasoned and valid scientific determination. They can’t cherry pick from the science; they can’t selectively cite or use it or misrepresent it. Nor can they disregard or ignore it. The court’s review must be searching and careful,” Bishop said. “Deference is sometimes warranted but sometimes not.”

Appellate justices are mulling over two cases that could determine whether or which gray wolves are protected in the lower 48 states.