This week’s Wild Line brings a mix of federal shake-ups, cultural fights inside the Park Service, and some good news from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We also look at new wildfire resilience programs in California, the energy of Climate Week in New York, the upcoming Senate hearing on public lands bills, fresh intimidation of civil servants, and a record-breaking response to the Roadless Rule rollback.

Federal Appointments and NPS Directives

Senate Republicans invoked the so-called nuclear option late last Thursday, allowing a slate of Trump’s nominees to key energy and environmental positions to be passed by a simple party-line vote. Those nominees included Catherine Scarlet as head of the Council on Environmental Quality, William Doffmeyer as Interior’s top lawyer, Andrea Trabenyk as Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, and Leslie Beyer as Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. That same day, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appointed Scott Brecht as the new Chief of the U.S. Park Police, where he is expected to lead the administration’s buildup of federal law enforcement in Washington, DC.

The New York Times also outlined internal National Park Service emails showing how the agency would comply with President Trump’s executive order from last March requiring the removal of materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans.” Among the targeted items are signs at Manassas Battlefield Park debunking Lost Cause ideology, a booklet at Arlington House designed to teach kids about slavery and the scourged back, and a famous photo at Fort Pulaski National Monument showing severe scarring on the back of a formerly enslaved man.

Blue Ridge Parkway Reopens

Twenty-six miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway damaged by landslides during Hurricane Helene have reopened. This marks the completion of phase one of a master plan to restore over 400 miles of the parkway. Visitors now have access again to Craggy Gardens, Ridge Junction Overlook, and Mount Mitchell State Park. As conservation legend Doug Scott often says, “driving a parkway like the Blue Ridge or the Cherohala Skyway, between Tennessee and North Carolina, is a wilderness experience as legitimate as any other.”

Wildfire Resilience in California

Lawmakers approved a program to help protect residents and their homes against wildfire. Endorsed by the state’s Insurance Commissioner, the program would pay residents to improve their homes by installing fire-resistant roofs or clearing flammable material. It is modeled after wind protection efforts in Alabama and Louisiana that provide up to $10,000 for home-hardening practices and offer property insurance discounts. The bill now awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature.

Climate Week – New York City

Government officials, business leaders, scientists, advocates, artists, and organizers gathered for Climate Week in New York City, held alongside the UN General Assembly. The event included panels, protests, policy discussions, major announcements, and cultural gatherings. Speaking from Manhattan, Joshua Lowe of the Yale Program for Climate Change Communication said, “There are hundreds of organizations, businesses, and governments that are working every day at every level to address climate change, to advance solutions, to cut carbon pollution, to cut methane pollution, and protect public lands, and it’s going to take all of us. There’s no silver bullet. We need all of us working together to protect what we love.”

Senate ENR Hearing Preview

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing October 1 on more than 25 bills addressing wildfire, trails, the roadless rule, and wilderness designations in Colorado and Washington. Attorney Susan Jane Brown told us, “I think there’s 26 at my last count, although that may change up or down in the next couple of days…these bills are pretty much everything that Senate ENR has available for consideration.”

She described the slate as “an interesting hodgepodge” of protection bills—new wilderness, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and mineral withdrawals—paired with proactive management bills like Senator Barrasso’s forestry proposal, land sales, and a measure on RS 2477 roads. She added that while such pairings have been typical, the relationship between Ranking Member Martin Heinrich and Chairman Mike Lee “is not good and deteriorating,” which could affect how the committee functions.  Susan joined us in April to talk about the troubled future of the forest service.  Click HERE to listen.

White House Pressure on Civil Servants

The Trump administration is using the September 30 funding deadline to intimidate federal employees. A memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget directs agencies, including land management bureaus, to prepare reduction-in-force plans for any employees working on programs that do not align with President Trump’s priorities. As Anders explained, this move has “nothing to do with government funding and everything to do with decimating the ranks of those who stand between the public land user and industry’s plans to exploit and privatize our public lands.”

Roadless Rule Comment Period Closes

The comment period on the Forest Service’s proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule closed last week. Coalitions pushing back against the rollback, joined by outdoor recreation and sporting communities, generated nearly 500,000 comments. Tribal leaders, NGOs, elected officials, and allies generated at least 100,000 more. In all, more than 600,000 comments were submitted in just three weeks. Initial analysis shows 98 percent opposed rescission.

Next Week

On Tuesday, The Wild Idea podcast features Chris Keyes, longtime editor at Outside magazine and now founder of RE:PUBLIC, a new nonprofit newsroom dedicated to public lands. The Wild Line returns October 3 with more headlines shaping the future of the wild. 

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