The Wild Line

This week’s Wild Line opens with the October 1 government shutdown, which left thousands of federal workers in limbo and forced Interior to furlough half its staff, straining National Parks, gateway communities, and local economies. We cover Interior’s cancellation of...

This week’s Wild Line covers a wave of federal personnel shifts, cultural censorship inside the National Park Service, and the reopening of storm-damaged sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We look at new wildfire resilience programs in California, Climate Week in New York, and the upcoming Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on more than 25 public lands bills. We also cover White House intimidation of civil servants and the record-breaking response to the Forest Service’s proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule.

Wilderness advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, this week for the National Wilderness Coalition’s annual advocacy week, as lawmakers pushed a trio of mining bills and a new permitting framework with major implications for public lands. In Colorado, the BLM held a record-breaking oil and gas lease sale, with even larger auctions on the horizon, while the administration proposed creating a U.S. Wildland Fire Service that critics warn could drain resources from already strained agencies. Elsewhere, Interior backed reauthorizing the Great American Outdoors Act, the EPA moved to end greenhouse gas reporting, and Canada unveiled a suite of new energy projects drawing fire from First Nations and environmental groups.

With the comment deadline on the Forest Service’s Roadless Rule rescission approaching, we cover the Department of the Interior’s announcement of plans to roll back the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, lawmakers debated wildfire risk, energy permitting, the Endangered Species Act, and forest funding, while the House passed this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.

Congress returned from recess this week and wasted no time taking aim at public lands, passing a slate of resolutions that roll back years of planning in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota. We spoke with Alaskans on the ground about what these changes mean for their communities. Meanwhile, lawmakers advanced the Ambler Road project and a series of controversial mining and wildlife bills, even as a hearing opened on reauthorizing the Great American Outdoors Act. Outside of Congress, the EPA moved to fire dozens of employees, wildfire crews raised alarms after arrests on the fireline, and new disputes over sage grouse, water rights, and climate science shaped the week. Plus, the USDA is expanding an unusual tool in the wolf conflict toolbox: drones playing human voices and rock music.

This week on The Wild Line, we dig into big developments across America’s public lands. USDA has quietly extended the comment period on its controversial Forest Service reorganization plan, while also moving to roll back the Roadless Rule, threatening protections for 45 million acres. We look at the first-ever retreat from a wildlife refuge expansion in Texas and a court ruling that weakens protections for the lesser prairie chicken, plus a Montana summit where Ryan Zinke and conservative groups pressed for more state control of federal lands. We also bring you updates from Alaska’s oil and gas meeting, new research on wildfire severity in California, and Yosemite rangers’ vote to unionize after steep workforce cuts. And we’ll tell you what’s ahead as The Wild Idea podcast returns next week with a Labor Day bonus episode and a conversation with Chris Hill of the Conservation Lands Foundation.

This week on The Wild Line, we’re celebrating some rare and welcome good news for the red wolf, with pups on the ground in North Carolina and a population that’s finally on the rise. We also have updates on a court order halting construction in the Everglades, a legal win for one of the Pacific’s most important marine monuments, and a new tool that lets you see which public lands the BLM has marked for possible sale. Plus, we check in on efforts to defend California’s Chuckwalla National Monument and hear Anders’ take on a troubling federal move in DC. We’re taking a short summer recess next week, but not before teeing up Tuesday’s Wild Idea Podcast conversation about a big win for the Okefenokee Swamp.

Today we report on the rollback of protections in Alaska’s North Slope, revival of a mining project near the Boundary Waters, and threats to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We offer some good news with proposed Wild and Scenic River designations in Montana, and some bad news with Louisiana’s cancellation of a landmark coastal restoration project, plus public comments open on a controversial Forest Service reorganization plan.

Today on The Wild Line, we cover major shakeups across the agencies that manage public lands and wildlife—layoffs at the Interior Department, a controversial reorganization plan at USDA, and deep cuts to wilderness staffing within the Forest Service. We break down a proposed overhaul to NEPA, new appointments moving through the Senate, and ongoing negotiations over NOAA and marine mammal funding. Plus: a major park funding win in Texas, the loss of sage grouse in North Dakota, and a new conservation bill for Illinois’s Shawnee National Forest.

Today on The Wild Line: A sweeping USDA plan to restructure the Forest Service, a major executive order from President Trump aimed at fast-tracking AI data center development on federal land, the House’s latest Interior budget bill, and a legal win for conservationists.

Join us for today’s full roundup of what’s happening across all three branches of government, plus a reminder that history is written not just in laws, but in landscapes. We dive into the latest BLM approvals, two new Trump-era executive orders, a small act you can take to help save our National Park signs, and a whole lot more.

Bill and Anders cover the end of the budget reconciliation process, where a proposed public land sell-off was defeated, but many major setbacks for public lands remained. The Forest Service moved to weaken its rules for following the National Environmental Policy Act, and in Montana, a new Good Neighbor Authority agreement handed management of 200,000 acres of federal land over to the state. We also track a new lawsuit challenging the development of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades.