This week’s Wild Line opens with a federal court order that halts layoffs at the Department of the Interior during the shutdown, blocking reductions in force until the case concludes. In Washington, Senators launched a new bipartisan Senate Stewardship Caucus, and the Senate rejected a resolution to overturn the plan to protect northern spotted owls while advancing another that rolls back protections in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve. House Democrats challenged Interior and USDA over shutdown decisions that favor extractive industries even as critical safety work is left to skeleton crews. Federal agencies announced new funding for Western migration corridors, and legal and political pressure reignited the debate over cattle grazing at Point Reyes. The episode also covers the push to rescind the BLM Public Lands Rule, the return of the Albert Pike statue and recent bear attacks in Arkansas, and a series of court rulings and political fights in Montana over trout, timber, grizzlies, bison, and American Prairie’s grazing rights.

Shutdown Layoff Freeze – Washington, DC

A federal court ordered a halt to planned layoffs at the Department of the Interior during the ongoing shutdown. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston extended the pause indefinitely, blocking reductions in force and reorganization plans until the lawsuit challenging the cuts is resolved. The ruling prevents Interior from moving forward with workforce reductions while critical operations are already strained by furloughs and limited staffing.

Senate Stewardship Caucus Launch – Washington, DC

Senators from both parties gathered at Union Station to launch a new Senate Stewardship Caucus hosted by Nature is Nonpartisan. The Caucus is co-chaired by Senator Martin Heinrich and Senator Tim Sheehy, who called this moment an “inflection point” for public lands. Heinrich highlighted the durability of bipartisan conservation policy and cited the Great American Outdoors Act and the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act as examples of legislation the group may champion.

Congressional Review Act Fights – Washington, DC

Senators debated two high-profile Congressional Review Act resolutions. A resolution from Senator John Kennedy to overturn the plan to protect northern spotted owls by managing barred owl populations failed decisively on the Senate floor, earning only 25 votes. Critics argued the move would have disrupted resource management plans, Endangered Species Act consultations, and owl habitat protections, and could have reduced timber output instead of increasing it. A second resolution from Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan passed, overturning the Biden administration’s 2022 decision to protect millions of acres in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska from oil and gas drilling.

House Oversight During Shutdown – Washington, DC

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee wrote to Secretaries Burgum and Rollins objecting to Interior and USDA’s decision to prioritize non-essential work benefiting mining, drilling, and logging during the shutdown while curtailing work tied to safety and public access. The letter warns that stretched skeleton crews are now responsible for wildfire response, search and rescue, and basic park operations like trash removal, and argues that the continued prioritization of extractive industries over core agency responsibilities could violate the Antideficiency Act.

Western Migration Corridor Awards – Multiple States

Several Interior agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the U.S. Forest Service and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, announced this year’s round of funding for the Western Big Game Seasonal Habitat and Migration Corridors Fund in partnership with ConocoPhillips and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Twelve projects across eight states will receive $3.9 million, leveraging $3.4 million in matching funds for a total impact of $7.3 million. The projects will remove or improve 652 miles of fencing to wildlife-friendly standards, improve management on 294,304 acres of rangelands, and restore 53,085 acres of Tribal, public, and private lands in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Complete list of awards HERE

Point Reyes Grazing Dispute – California

In the final days of the Biden Administration, a settlement was reached among The Nature Conservancy, the National Park Service, and ranching families permitted to run cattle at Point Reyes National Seashore.  This week, the Interior Department sent counsel to California to revisit the agreement following a lawsuit filed by two ranching families challenging the settlement. According to the transcript, Secretary Doug Burgum became involved at the request of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose uncle established the Seashore in 1962. The conflict now includes House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Jared Huffman, a surfer known as Ceadda, and competing ranching groups. The lawsuit argues that cattle are necessary to manage grasslands, while conservation groups counter that elk and fire can fulfill that role as they did before European settlement.  More from the San Francisco Standard HERE, and more from PoliticoPro HERE.

Public Lands Rule Rollback – Washington, DC

The Trump Administration moved to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule, arguing it is unnecessary and conflicts with statutory direction. The hosts noted that the rule was developed after months of public input and is needed to meet long-standing congressional directives to protect undeveloped landscapes, wildlife habitat, and cultural resources. Over 92 percent of submitted comments supported the rule. Comments on the proposed rollback are due November 10, and a public webinar featuring New Mexico Wild, Native Land Institute, The Conservation Alliance, and the Conservation Lands Foundation  will take place on Monday, November 3 to help people understand what is at stake and how to participate. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Confederate Statue and Wildlife Incidents – Arkansas

The Administration reinstalled the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in Washington, DC, citing a goal to “beautify the nation’s capital and restore pre-existing statues.” Pike served on the Arkansas Supreme Court before the Civil War, fought for the Confederacy, and was later linked to misappropriated funds and post-war extremist activity. The statue, originally erected in 1901, was the only Confederate general monument in the city and had been removed during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission announced that DNA from a bear euthanized in Newton County did not match the bear responsible for the death of a 60-year-old man in the Ozark National Forest earlier in the month. A separate fatal bear incident occurred in Franklin County less than a month prior. That bear, also euthanized, tested negative for rabies and distemper. These were the first fatal bear encounters in Arkansas since 1892.

Litigation and Grazing Conflict – Montana

A federal judge blocked a Forest Service plan to drop poison into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness to eliminate invasive rainbow trout and restore Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by Wilderness Watch, with the court finding that the Buffalo Creek Project conflicts with the Wilderness Act because neither trout species is native to the creek.

In a separate case, another federal judge ruled that a Forest Service timber project in the Kootenai National Forest did not adequately consider how new logging roads could affect grizzly bear populations. The suit was brought by the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and the state’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Interior Secretary Burgum opposing grazing rights held by American Prairie on part of the organization’s half-million acres of rangeland. American Prairie has reintroduced bison on its lands and works with ranchers to support roughly 7,000 cattle and 75 ranching operations. Gianforte argued the effort “threatens the economic vitality of our most important industry,” though agriculture ranks as the 12th largest sector in the state’s economy. Ranchers also raised concerns about potential brucellosis transmission among cattle, elk, and bison.

American Prairie’s work will be the subject of two upcoming Wild Idea conversations in the weeks ahead.

Next Week

Join us Tuesday, November 4th for the Wild Idea when Bill and Anders sit down with historian and author Frank Eukӧtter to discuss what history can teach us about today’s environmental movements. 

A professor at the University of Birmingham, Frank brings a sharp and nuanced view of how ecological ideals have been shaped by politics over time. It’s a thoughtful look at the moral complexities behind protecting nature and why justice and democracy must remain at the heart of that work.

Then the Wild Line returns on Friday, November 7th with your weekly update on the latest in conservation news. 

Until then, act up, and run wild.

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