This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking Congress’s move to block federal lead ammunition and tackle regulations, the first convening of the Endangered Species Act’s God Squad in over 30 years, a public lands crossroads symposium in Salt Lake City, and a contested land swap at Cumberland Island National Seashore. From wildlife toxicology to oil and gas exemptions on federal waters, these stories define the current frontlines of public lands policy.

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

House Passes Bill Blocking Federal Lead Ammunition and Tackle Regulations

he U.S. House passed H.R. 556, the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act of 2025, prohibiting the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture from regulating lead ammunition or tackle on federal lands. Lead toxicity is a documented threat to California condors, bald and golden eagles, common loons, and dozens of other species — and the bill’s constraints on federal management may also create conflicts with the Endangered Species Act.

Hardy Kern, Director of Government Relations, American Bird Conservancy, shared this comment:

“I think people know that lead is dangerous. I think people know that it’s no longer in paint, and we’ve gotten it out of gasoline… I don’t know that most people make the direct connection between lead ammo, spent lead ammo, the lead fishing tackle, and potential harms to wildlife… the default is just to use the lead based stuff, because it’s available right now. It seems like it’s a little bit cheaper, but it is way, way worse for wildlife. And the great part is there’s a ton of alternatives out there already.”

God Squad Called for First Time in 30 Years to Consider ESA Exemptions for Gulf Oil and Gas

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has convened the “God Squad” — a federal panel empowered to override Endangered Species Act protections — for the first time since the 1990s. The March 31st meeting near the Gulf of Mexico is focused on exemptions for oil and gas exploration. At stake: the Rice’s whale, with an estimated population of just 51 individuals, found nowhere else on Earth.

We heard from Jane Davenport, Senior Attorney, Defenders of Wildlife:

“The God Squad is designed by nature to be invoked extremely rarely. In the last 48 years since the God Squad provisions were added to the Endangered Species Act in 1978, it’s literally only been convened three times… this convening of the God Squad on March 31 is so unprecedented because there has been none of that process. There’s been no application, there’s been no formal hearing, there’s been no secretarial report, and the public isn’t even able to tell from the Federal Register Notice announcing this meeting, what is the committee planning to examine.”

Sierra Club Webinar: “Parks, Not Prisons” — Border Landscapes Under Threat

This coming Tuesday at 7:00 PM Eastern, Sierra Club frontline advocates and legal experts are hosting a webinar focused on threats to public lands along the southern border — including Big Bend National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Big Cypress National Preserve, and Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. The discussion will cover proposals for border wall expansion, militarization, and detention facilities. RSVP here.

Wallace Stegner Center Hosts 31st Annual Public Lands Symposium in Salt Lake City

The University of Utah’s Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment held its 31st annual symposium this week, titled “America’s Public Lands: At a Crossroads.” We were on the ground in Salt Lake City for day one — highlights included staggering workforce reduction numbers across the four federal land agencies, a panel on critical minerals and China’s refining dominance, and a conversation with Mark Haggerty of the Center for American Progress on why rural Western communities continue to be left behind even as their lands generate national wealth. More from the symposium next week.

“The rural West is providing energy, materials, resources to the national economy, but… that value is largely being extracted from those communities, and there are fewer jobs, wages are stagnant, and there’s less revenue staying in those places.” — Mark Haggerty, Center for American Progress

Cumberland Island National Seashore Land Swap Rejected by Camden County Commissioners

The Camden County, Georgia Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to deny endorsement of a National Park Service land exchange proposal at Cumberland Island National Seashore. The public had less than a week’s notice before the vote. Opposition came from over 500 members of the public and a broad coalition of conservation groups raising concerns about transparency, undisclosed acreage, unknown easement terms, and whether the exchanged parcels could open the door to future commercial use inside the park.

Testimony that preceded the vote included this, from Dr. Katherine Saylor, Defenders of Wildlife:

“We are asking respectfully and kindly that you table the proposed vote on this letter supporting the NPS land exchange… The action is premature, as mentioned, we don’t have a full environmental review… We don’t know the ecological value of the park lands proposed for conveyance. We don’t know the terms of conservation easements… Cumulatively, what precisely does that look like? We really don’t have any of that information available to us here this evening.”

 Next Week

That’s our report for March 20, 2026.

We’ll be back next week with more land stories that matter.

Until then — Act Up and Run Wild.

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