The Wild Line

Chiricahua National Monument is now Chiricahua National Park, and the Bureau of Land Management wants to open roughly 5,200 acres of minerals beneath Utah's Ouray National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development. This week we also cover Blackstone-controlled Tallgrass Energy's $105 million gift to Yellowstone Forever, a Montana "super range" announced without a location, a proposed Forest Service travel management change, a Senate permitting deal Defenders of Wildlife says would cripple the Endangered Species Act, and the Justice Department's Supreme Court push to resume border construction in Big Bend.

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.

Congress is moving a bipartisan permitting reform package that conservation groups say would approve virtually all destructive public lands projects without meaningful environmental review. A federal court halted the United States Forest Service reorganization, and Judge Ana Reyes ordered a stop to tree removal at East Potomac Public Golf Course after hundreds of trees came down despite her notice requirement. Also this week: Judge Tanya Chutkan reopened litigation over the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monument reductions, and NOAA Fisheries funded six habitat restoration projects through the National Fish Habitat Partnership.

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.

More than a million public comments are in against the Roadless Rule rescission, according to the coalition leading the opposition, and a separate analysis found 99 percent of comments oppose Forest Service travel management changes. This week we also cover the federal injunction halting heavy border construction in Big Bend National Park, a second Montana House sponsor for A River Runs Through It Act, and a new lawsuit over an oil-hauling road through Utah's Gate Canyon. We close by remembering river guide Ken Sleight, the inspiration for Seldom Seen Smith, and longtime National Wildlife Federation leader Jim Lyon.

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.

The EPA finalized the repeal of most 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants, eliminating key climate regulations and saving an estimated $310 billion while potentially causing up to $476 billion in health damages. The Department of Homeland Security also ended its pause on border barrier construction within Big Bend National Park, and a lawsuit was filed by landowners and conservation groups challenging the government's border wall plans. Reports indicate the Trump administration was approached about hosting a baseball game at Grand Teton National Park, though officials called the scouting claims incorrect and noted no permits were granted. The Forest Service is closing the final comment window for the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule, with The Wilderness Society urging public participation.

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, a new executive order opens national monuments like Castle Mountains and Craters of the Moon to hunting and sets a 60-day clock on river permit lotteries, while Interior blocks more than $25 million in National Park Service partner funding. We also cover former wildlife agency heads warning that Interior's proposed Endangered Species Act rule ignores basic science, a coalition of 21 state attorneys general suing over new ESA rules, and a lawsuit over a missed deadline for two West Coast pond turtles.

Anders reports from Wilderness Week in Washington, DC, and Bill closes with a Public Lands Day message for the rangers who steward our 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, the House Natural Resources Committee advances a bill that would gut environmental review for forest management projects, and the Senate Agriculture Committee finally passes a Farm Bill carrying both new wilderness and weakened conservation funding. We also cover a leaked Fish and Wildlife Service memo narrowing the Endangered Species Act's definition of "take," new mining claims filed inside a shrunken Bears Ears National Monument, an extended comment period on the Roadless Rule rescission, a euthanized Grand Teton bear, and the passing of writer Annie Dillard.

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, 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.