This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking a new 430,000-acre wilderness and recreation bill in Montana, a House investigation into the influence of environmental nonprofits, Forest Service research station closures, and a contested visitor use plan and land exchange at Cumberland Island. From a House vote delaying right whale protections to a court win for bison on Montana’s public lands, these stories track how far Congress and federal agencies are willing to push land and wildlife policy in both directions this week. 

🎧 Listen to the full episode for context, analysis, and what to watch next.

Montana Congressman Introduces Wilderness and Recreation Bill Named for A River Runs Through It

Montana Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke announced the introduction of the A River Runs Through It Act on Wednesday at Smoke Elser’s barn in Missoula, named for Norman Maclean’s novel. The bill would designate roughly 130,000 acres of new wilderness through additions to the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat Wilderness Areas and protection for Nevada Mountain, Montana’s first new wilderness designation since the 2014 Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act. Across its full 430,000-acre footprint, the legislation also creates six recreation areas and conservation management areas that preserve grazing and public access, plus forest restoration and wildfire-risk reduction work near Lincoln. Zinke is featured discussing the bill in this week’s episode.

House Passes Bill Delaying North Atlantic Right Whale Protections

The House passed Rep. Mike Lawler’s (R-NY) and Rep. Jared Golden’s (D-ME) Northeast Lobsterman Protection Act of 2026, H.R. 9436, by a 219-196 vote, extending a moratorium on new lobster and crab gear regulations for seven more years. Entanglement in fishing gear is a leading cause of death for North Atlantic right whales; more than 86% of living whales bear entanglement scars, and only about 380 remain in the wild, fewer than the 415 votes cast on the bill. The vote comes as NOAA Fisheries pursues further rollbacks to whale and marine mammal protections, from vessel speed rules to the removal of monument-based fishing regulations. Learn more here.

House Committee Launches Investigation Into Environmental Nonprofits

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and fifteen other committee members launched an investigation into what they call the outsized influence of preservationist environmental nonprofits, accusing them of building profitable litigation machines through statutory fee-shifting provisions, the standard practice of reimbursing attorneys’ fees after successfully litigating violations of laws like the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. The inquiry names eighteen organizations: Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Cascadia Wildlands, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, High Country Conservation Advocates, Montana Environmental Information Center, Native Ecosystems Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oregon Wild, Rocky Mountain Wild, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Sierra Club, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, The Wilderness Society, Wilderness Watch, and Wilderness Workshop.

Forest Service to Close 23 Research Stations

The Forest Service announced it is closing 23 research stations nationwide. Chief Tom Schultz said the move reflects a commitment to retaining research staff while reducing facilities costs, projecting $8.8 million in annual lease savings and more than $8 million in deferred maintenance savings. Bill Hodge noted the announcement’s focus on facilities, not staff, leaves out that these stations anchor communities where researchers and their families live, and questioned whether consolidation on this scale risks driving experienced staff out of the agency.

Cumberland Island Moves Ahead on Visitor Plan, Opens Comment on Land Exchanges

The National Park Service issued a Finding of No Significant Impact on August 31 for Cumberland Island National Seashore’s Visitor Use Management Plan, replacing the 1984 General Management Plan, more than doubling the daily visitor limit, and greenlighting new development and commercial services on the island. Nine days later, the Park Service released the Environmental Assessment for two proposed land exchanges with wealthy inholders, opening a public comment period that runs through October 16. Dani Purvis of Wild Cumberland is featured explaining how the visitor plan and the land exchange interact.

Trump Administration Advances Wolf and Wetland Rollbacks

President Trump signed an executive order September 4 directing the Interior Department to consider stripping Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves and Mexican gray wolves and to recommend matching legislation to Congress, while also pushing federal agencies to override state wildlife protections and weaken evidentiary standards for livestock predation claims. Conservation groups called it a political favor to ranchers, noting only about 317 Mexican wolves remain in the wild, and vowed to challenge any rollback in court. The same day, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers proposed narrowing the definition of “waters of the United States,” building on the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett decision to require waterways hold water nearly year-round to qualify for protection, a change the agencies acknowledge would hit the arid West hardest.

Federal Judge Blocks Removal of American Prairie Bison From Public Lands

A federal judge granted American Prairie a preliminary injunction blocking an imminent eviction deadline for its herd of more than 900 bison grazing on public lands in Montana. Without the ruling, issued September 4 by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, American Prairie would have had to remove or cull its bison from federal grazing allotments by September 30. Morris rejected the federal government’s eviction rationale, finding no legal precedent requires livestock operations to focus exclusively on production while ignoring conservation, and noting that nearly half of American Prairie’s bison have historically been sourced for meat or used by Tribal partners for food sovereignty programs. Beth Saboe of American Prairie is featured discussing the ruling

Next Week

That’s our report for September 11, 2026.

We’ll be back next week with more land stories that matter. Next Tuesday on The Wild Idea Podcast, we talk with the host of The Dirtbag Diaries about the drive for one million signatures to save public lands.

Until then — Act Up and Run Wild.

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