Wilderness Watch

06/05/2026

It's THIS time of the year across the National Wilderness Preservation System!

06/05/2026

Livestock are currently authorized to graze nearly 25 percent of all Wilderness acres in the lower 48 states.

New livestock grazing rules proposed by the Trump administration would greatly expanded destructive livestock grazing, including in Wilderness.

The Trump Administration, with the help of the Republican Congress, is turning public rangelands over to the livestock industry to exploit with few or no limits. According to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgham: “For too long, ranchers and land managers have been forced to work under outdated r...

06/04/2026

The U.S. Forest Service recently authorized the use of gas-powered chainsaws by commercial outfitters and guides for seven months a year for up to three years on 542 miles of trail in about half of the River of No Return Wilderness within the boundaries of the Salmon-Challis National Forest.

The Forest Service made this decision after a year of secret, behind-closed-door negotiations with the Idaho Outfitter and Guides Association with no opportunities for public comment, no environmental review, and no regard for federal laws, including the Wilderness Act.

We absolutely do not believe this authorization is legal under the Wilderness Act or the National Environmental Policy Act.

Not only does this move go against the mandate of the Wilderness Act prohibiting the use of motorized equipment in designated Wilderness areas, it could also set a dangerous precedent for the management of Wilderness across the country.

Please join Wilderness Watch and our partners at the Great Old Broads for Wilderness at 5pm MDT on Thursday, June 11 for a webinar about “Chainsaws and the Wilderness Act.”

Click here to register for this free webinar: https://www.greatoldbroads.org/events/online-event-chainsaws-and-the-wilderness-act/

Panelists include:

• Dana Johnson, Policy Director, Wilderness Watch
• Ken Straley, retired USFS Wilderness Manager
• N. Taylor, retired regional USFS Wilderness Manager
• Anne Dal Vera, retired USFS Wilderness Ranger

During the webinar, you will learn more about why this Forest Service action goes beyond just chainsaws, and what you can do to halt moves like this that strike at the very core of the Wilderness Act.

Together we will stop this attack on the Wilderness Act, and ensure that these special landscapes remain natural and wild for generations to come.

We hope you can join us at 5pm MDT on Thursday, June 11.

Photo: USFS

06/04/2026

Fans of the Boundary Waters and Wilderness in general should celebrate the recent decision by Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall on the Fernberg Corridor Project.

His decision allows activities outside the Wilderness to proceed, but wisely excludes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from the project’s earlier proposed activities, including plans to burn off 84,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Wilderness with the assistance of chainsaws, aircraft, mechanical drip torches, and other motorized tools that are prohibited by the 1964 Wilderness Act.

By Kevin Proescholdt, Wilderness Watch

06/03/2026

Please join Wilderness Watch and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness on Thursday, June 11 at 5pm MDT for a special online event: “Chainsaws and the Wilderness Act.”

Register here: https://www.greatoldbroads.org/events/online-event-chainsaws-and-the-wilderness-act/

The U.S. Forest Service recently decided to authorize the use of chainsaws by outfitters and guides in areas of Idaho’s Frank Church—River of No Return Wilderness Area, a move that could set a dangerous precedent for the management of wilderness areas across the country.

Please join the Great Old Broads for Wilderness’ Former Land Agency Affinity Group (FLAAG) and our partners at Wilderness Watch on Thursday, June 11 for a special online event: “Chainsaws and the Wilderness Act.”

We will learn more about why this USFS action goes beyond just chainsaws, and what you can do to halt moves like this that strike at the very core of the Wilderness Act.

Register today!

https://www.greatoldbroads.org/events/online-event-chainsaws-and-the-wilderness-act/

06/03/2026

Our pals at Friends of the Clearwater seek a forest policy director with a love for wild nature to contribute to their organizational mission.

Friends of the Clearwater is based in Moscow, Idaho, and they protect the wildlands of the Clearwater Basin in North-Central Idaho, especially the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests and adjacent public lands.

Tap below to find application information.

FOC is now hiring for a Forest Policy Director! Learn about the position and apply today.

06/03/2026

Have you checked out this webinar, which dives into the language of the so-called "Fix Our Forests Act" to highlight how a cleverly hidden loophole in S. 1462 would nullify any potential enforcement of all federal environmental laws on national forests and BLM lands nationwide?!?

After you watch it, please also call your two senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to oppose the “Fix Our Forests Act” (S. 1462).

Putting Logging Projects Above Environmental Laws

06/02/2026

We're celebrating a good decision for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and the National Wilderness Preservation System. Thanks to thousands of our members and supporters who took action!

"Fans of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness should celebrate the May 1 decision by Superior National Forest Supervisor Tom Hall on the Fernberg Corridor Project. His decision allows activities outside the wilderness to proceed but wisely excludes the Boundary Waters from the project’s earlier proposed activities.

The Fernberg Corridor Project lies east of Ely along the Fernberg Road out to Lake One. The project covers about 175,000 acres, including about 84,000 acres within the Boundary Waters. The original project proposal called for intentionally burning off those 84,000 acres of the Boundary Waters, including lands as far as six or seven miles inside the wilderness, with the assistance of chainsaws, aircraft, mechanical drip torches, and other motorized tools that were prohibited by the 1964 Wilderness Act.

At issue was not just the motorized and mechanized tools and transportation that would be involved with the Forest Service igniting fires in the BWCAW. Manager-ignited fires represent a form of manipulation of the wilderness, imposing human values and preferences on the wilderness landscape rather than allowing nature to choose. Letting nature call the shots is the fundamental tenet that sets wilderness apart from other lands. It tests our ability to show humility and restraint. And manager-ignited fire can have very different effects on the wilderness than lightning-ignited fires, in terms of timing, location, which forest stands burn, severity, and ecological impacts from the burns.

Because of these concerns, supporters of my wilderness conservation organization, Wilderness Watch, submitted more than 2,000 comments opposing this part of the project — and we filed a formal objection to the proposed wilderness burning."

From the column: "Manager-ignited fire can have very different effects on the wilderness than lightning-ignited fires."

06/02/2026

Our new lawsuit with our allies is challenging the U.S. government’s policy of allowing federal agents to kill wildlife—including wolves, bears, cougars, and coyotes using poisons, traps, and aerial gunning—inside designated Wilderness.

“Killing native species to appease the livestock industry violates the Wilderness Act,” said Dan Brister of Wilderness Watch. “In Wilderness, Congress mandated that the Forest Service protect nature—not industry profits.”

Learn more >>> https://wildernesswatch.substack.com/p/new-lawsuit-challenges-wildlife-killing

06/02/2026

This piece was written in 2019, but it is still more relevant than ever as the U.S. Forest Service just approved giving private, commercial outfitters permission to use gas powered chainsaws for seven months a year for up to three years in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho.

Documents Wilderness Watch recently obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request also expose the fact that the Idaho proposal is part of a nationwide effort to let private, commercial outfitters run chainsaws through Wilderness and the Wilderness Act.

by George Nickas Bill Worf, Wilderness Watch’s founder, liked to tell the story of when shortly after the Wilderness Act passed in 1964, engineers at the Forest Service Development and Technology Center expressed their interest in developing a “silent” chainsaw. Their rationale was that if the...