The Wild Line

This week, Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke introduces a 430,000-acre wilderness and recreation bill named for A River Runs Through It , and the House Natural Resources Committee opens an investigation into the influence of eighteen environmental nonprofits. We also cover the Forest Service's closure of 23 research stations, a contested Cumberland Island visitor plan and land exchange now open for public comment, a House vote delaying North Atlantic right whale protections, new rollbacks targeting wolves and wetlands, and a court win keeping bison on Montana public lands. Support our show with a one-time or recurring gift through Buy Me a Coffee. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, Chinook salmon return to the Mount St. Helens watershed for the first time since the 1980 eruption, while the Trump administration weighs handing a piece of Yosemite National Park to a private developer and conservation groups head back to court over the reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. We also cover a deadly flash flood that shut down the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a halted data center on Nevada public land, a rollback of national park crowd control, and a Climate Week panel on Southern Appalachian wildlife. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com. Support our show with a one-time or recurring gift through Buy Me a Coffee.

This week, the Forest Service proposes to flip its travel management rule, opening national forests to motorized vehicles everywhere except specifically closed areas. Nevada sues the federal government over Colorado River cuts that could slash its water allocation by up to 71 percent annually, and Gulf Coast advocates rally this weekend to defend endangered species from an oil-and-gas exemption to the Endangered Species Act. We also cover record glyphosate use on California's national forests, a reshuffling of dozens of senior career staff at the Interior Department, a Texas music compilation raising money for the Big Bend Conservation Alliance, and the close of National Park Week. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com. Support our show with a one-time or recurring gift through Buy Me a Coffee .

This week, USDA opens a public comment period on its plan to rescind the Roadless Rule, which protects close to 45 million acres of National Forest. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issues new state-level protections for the Boundary Waters watershed, and mining claims surface inside Utah's downsized Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments as Senator Mike Lee moves to challenge Bears Ears' management plan. We also cover a federal court blocking a road through Alaska's Izembek refuge, a paused CBP border project in Big Bend, scrutiny of a Forest Service official's firefighting request near his own ranch, proposed winter access changes at Glacier National Park, and a plug for the new podcast On Common Ground: An American Inheritance . Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, USDA nears a draft decision on rescinding the Roadless Rule, which protects 48 million acres of National Forest land, and today is the final day to comment on a related Interior Department review of wilderness management policy. President Trump has nominated Project 2025 co-author Dennis Kirk as Interior's inspector general, and new reporting reveals the National Park Service is weighing a land swap that would clear the way for data center development inside Virginia's Prince William Forest Park. We also cover a muted offshore oil lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico, continued construction on the Big Bend National Park border road, and honor the wildland firefighters killed in this summer's intense fire season. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com . Support our show with a one-time or recurring gift through Buy Me a Coffee .

This week, the Bureau of Reclamation releases a new 10-year Colorado River management plan mandating major water cuts across Arizona, California, and Nevada, while the Bureau of Land Management approves the first data center on BLM-managed public land without a new environmental review. The Forest Service opens a 30-day comment period on a proposed rare earth mine near Devils Tower, and new reporting reveals Forest Service Law Enforcement participated in an ICE raid along North Carolina's Wilson Creek. We also cover escalating fallout over the shrunken Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments, NOAA's denial of Endangered Species Act protection for smalltail sharks, Texas lawmakers pushing back on border construction through Big Bend National Park, and new polling on public attitudes toward wildlife policy. Find the full show notes and links at thewildidea.com.

This week, a Senate committee drops most of its wilderness, national park, and wild and scenic river bills in favor of energy permitting measures, a federal judge in Anchorage clears the way for transferring more than 2 million acres along the Dalton Highway corridor to the State of Alaska, while the Interior Department cancels the Endangered Species Act's blanket 4(d) rule and NOAA rejects a bid to expand North Atlantic right whale critical habitat. We also cover new reporting linking paused DOGE wildfire-prevention funding to the fires burning across northern Minnesota, the removal of tribal signage at the newly shrunken Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Monuments, and the closing comment period on proposed changes to the Forest Service Directives System. Plus: peak viewing at Katmai's Brooks Falls bear cam and a relaunched wilderness management certificate program at the University of Montana. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, proposed federal rules would gut tribal consultation and historic-preservation protections under the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Trump Administration opens a comment period on drilling near Chaco Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We also cover a nearly one-third cut to Canada lynx critical habitat, a Montana Land Board grazing policy widely read as targeting American Prairie's bison herd, and a busy week for the House Natural Resources Committee. Plus: two Forest Service employees kidnapped at gunpoint in Northern California, a flash flood that killed five members of one family in Utah, a Mother Jones investigation into wildfire betting markets, criticism of a Blue Ridge Parkway logging plan, wildfires closing the entire Boundary Waters, and Okefenokee's bid for UNESCO World Heritage status. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, President Trump signs executive orders cutting Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by nearly 3 million acres combined, over tribal leaders' objections that they were never consulted. Federal agencies rescind the Endangered Species Act's core habitat protection, and Interior proposes returning grizzly bear management to Western states. We also cover a court ruling on grizzly and bull trout habitat in Montana, a House committee vote on whale protections, new funding for endangered species recovery, and rare good news: four litters of wild red wolf pups born in North Carolina. Plus, Ferncliff begins removing a dam to restore an Arkansas stream, and we mark a fourth death tied to Colorado's Gold Mountain Fire. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, the Bureau of Land Management proposes its first grazing rule overhaul since 1995, covering 155 million acres of Western public land and sharply limiting public participation in permit decisions. A coalition sues to block the Forest Service's largest restructuring in a century, and we track new wildlife crossing funding in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, a wildfire burning into a 50-year-untouched Colorado wilderness, and a new free tool for tracking public lands comment periods. We also remember David Page of the Winter Wildlands Alliance. Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week, the Forest Service opens a comment period on a proposed rule that would narrow public input into how national forests are managed, and the window closes July 31. The Interior Department signs a partnership with "de-extinction" company Colossal Biosciences on species genomics, raising the question of whether the tools complement or replace habitat-based recovery. A new lawsuit tests how far Congress can stretch the Congressional Review Act against land management plans. We also cover a volunteer-built replacement for the shuttered Climate.gov, the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, and hard news from the fire line in Colorado alongside the closing of National Parks Traveler. Find the full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line , we're tracking Farm Bill wilderness designations for Virginia, Arkansas, and Illinois; Kevin Lilly's confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Interior's proposed rollback of oil and gas drilling safeguards; a leaked Flathead National Forest memo that would open recommended wilderness to off-road vehicles; an emergency Forest Service salvage timber declaration covering up to 11 million acres with a one-week comment period; NPS restrictions on fatality reporting; and the death of environmental journalist James Bruggers. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line , we're tracking new federal directives reshaping wilderness management for climbing anchors and livestock grazing, a bipartisan bill that would restore nearly $2 billion annually for national park maintenance, and a legal battle over a proposed oil road through Utah's most culturally significant canyon corridor. From the Senate's quiet protection of Grand Staircase-Escalante to a federal court's order restoring park displays, this week brought a complicated mix of setbacks and hard-won wins for public lands. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com.

This week on The Wild Line , we're tracking a lackluster oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a draft Forest Service memo that could open recommended wilderness to off-road vehicles, Senator Mike Lee's move to nullify the Roadless Rule, and a bipartisan bill to keep public land sales out of budget reconciliation. From Alaska to Appalachia, these stories come down to who decides the future of America's public lands. For more on these stories and the links mentioned, visit our website at thewildidea.com.

This week on The Wild Line , we're tracking the White House's repeal of decades-old off-road vehicle protections on public lands, House appropriations cuts to national parks and the EPA, the collapse of federal conservation program funding for farmers, and the withdrawal of NSF's deep-sea ocean monitoring network. From rolling back environmental safeguards to shrinking the public institutions that protect land and water, these stories trace a consistent direction in 2026. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking a new bill to nullify the Gulf of Mexico Endangered Species Act exemption, $67 million in national park entrance fees redirected to Washington, D.C. beautification projects, a steep drop in Forest Service wildfire fuels reduction, and conservation wins in the House surface transportation bill. From the Gulf to the Rockies, these stories capture the pressures and the persistent advocacy shaping federal land and wildlife policy heading into a high-risk fire season. Learn more about the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking the Senate confirmation of Steve Pearce as Bureau of Land Management director, the Trump administration’s restoration of cyanide trap devices on public lands, new reporting on how automated bots are locking everyday users out of Recreation.gov permits, the launch of a free community shuttle connecting Colorado residents to outdoor destinations in the Golden and Morrison area, and FBI Director Kash Patel’s coordinated snorkel tour of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. From FY27 appropriations markups to Conservation Alliance lobbying in Washington, these stories trace a week of compounding movement on federal lands and wildlife policy. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned at our website, thewildidea.com .

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the Bureau of Land Management's rescission of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's congressional testimony — including his description of designated wilderness areas as "death sentences for forests" — a House bill that would block North Atlantic right whale protections through 2035, the authorization of chainsaws in the Frank Church Wilderness, and state-level wins in Colorado and New Mexico. Find the details and links mentioned at our website, thewildidea.com

This week on The Wild Line , we're tracking the Senate's imminent floor vote on Steve Pearce's nomination as BLM Director, Montana's escalating campaign against American Prairie's bison grazing permits, a federal land transfer tied to the Ambler Road corridor in Alaska, an Alaska court ruling allowing unlimited bear killing in southwest Alaska, a pending Forest Service decision on chainsaw use in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, and the death of conservationist Ted Turner. From nomination fights to wilderness policy to bison restoration, the pressure on public lands is building on every front. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the withdrawal of the Trump administration's National Park Service nominee, a Forest Service plan to spray glyphosate across 10,000 acres of public land, a federal lawsuit to stop a controversial West Virginia highway, a proposed blast mine threatening the San Joaquin River, new University of Montana survey data on public lands attitudes, a coalition framework rejecting public land sell-offs as a housing fix, and the opening of a new trail at Red Rock Canyon. From farm bill stalemates to the gap between what Montana voters say and how their delegation votes, these stories cut to the heart of who controls — and who protects — America's public lands. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com .