This week on The Wild Line, we’re tracking the Forest Service’s newly opened comment period on rescinding the Roadless Rule, Minnesota’s new state-level protections for the Boundary Waters, and new mining claims and a fresh legal challenge facing Utah’s downsized national monuments. From a blocked Izembek refuge road in Alaska to a paused CBP project in Big Bend, these stories track the fight over how much protection America’s public lands have left.

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

USDA Opens Comment Period on Roadless Rule Rescission

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has released the draft environmental impact statement proposing to rescind the Forest Service’s 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects close to 45 million acres of National Forest that provide key habitat for threatened and endangered species, support local recreation economies, and largely resist road-building due to steep terrain and soil conditions. The agency has opened its public comment period, which closes in one month. Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood, one of the rule’s original architects 25 years ago, is featured in the episode discussing the stakes and why weighing in still matters.

“What will be lost is what the agency most needs, which is the social license to accelerate, not decrease, but to accelerate forest health treatments around communities of people. The more we waste time fighting to get into the backcountry, where almost by definition there aren’t people, the less time we have, the less energy, the less social license we have to be doing the treatments that need to occur near communities of people. And that’s what’s gonna be lost, and that’s the most unfortunate aspect for me of this whole rule…I do believe that if enough sportsmen and women raise their voices and other conservative voices that this administration will pay attention to, I do believe that they will alter the approach that they’re on right now. “

Links

• 2001 Roadless Rule Rescission Docket on Regulations.gov
• Roadless Areas resources & comment links on U.S. Forest Service website
• Submit a Comment on Roadless Rule Montana
• Roadless Rule Learning Map
• Our episodes about the Roadless Rule

Minnesota Governor Issues New Protections for the Boundary Waters

On Wednesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued Executive Order 26-10, directing state protections against sulfide-ore copper mining for the Boundary Waters watershed and calling for legislation to permanently protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The order follows Congress’s move earlier this year to reopen the door to a mine near the nation’s most visited wilderness. Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, welcomed the announcement:

“What the governor is doing with this executive order is both very powerful in terms of the threats that face the Boundary Waters from the federal government right now, um, but also what we need to protect the Boundary Waters for the long term…He is setting us up for really important near-term protections because right now is, is the time that the federal government is acting, and right now is the time that we need the state to act. Um, but he’s also lighting a significant pathway for, you know, what we know to be the real solution to achieving permanent protection for the Boundary Waters, which is a bill passed by the Minnesota legislature that would permanently ban sulfide-ore copper mining in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters.”

Save the Boundary Waters Action Center

Mining Claims Surface in Utah’s Downsized Monuments, and Mike Lee Targets Bears Ears’ Management Plan

Mining claims have begun appearing in county offices at Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments in the weeks since President Trump’s executive orders reduced their boundaries, despite the administration’s stated claim that the reductions were about restoring public access. Hanna Larsen, staff attorney at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, called the filings “premature and unlawful” and warned they threaten “real and long-lasting damage” to the monuments. Separately, Senator Mike Lee has asked the Government Accountability Office to subject Bears Ears’ 2025 management plan to the Congressional Review Act, a request GAO has granted; a CRA resolution targeting the plan is expected soon.

CBP Pauses Big Bend Border Project as Contract Scrutiny Grows

Customs and Border Protection has paused contractor construction and road-building inside Big Bend National Park after bipartisan public pushback, with a site visit from CBP’s leadership planned before work potentially resumes. Separately, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the billions in federal contracts behind the project.

Forest Service Overseer Called In Aircraft for a Fire Near His Ranch

According to Washington Post reporting, Under Secretary of Agriculture Michael Boren repeatedly requested aircraft to fight a roughly 7-acre fire near his own Hell Roaring Ranch in Idaho’s Sawtooth National Recreation Area in July, even as Utah’s larger Cottonwood Fire competed for the same resources. The episode has drawn scrutiny over whether Boren used his federal position to protect his personal property.

Federal Judge Blocks Izembek Refuge Road Land Swap

On Tuesday, federal judge Sharon Gleason vacated the Interior Department’s October 2025 land exchange with King Cove Corporation, ruling it violated the Endangered Species Act, the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act, and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The ruling undoes a swap that would have allowed a gravel road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, sought for decades by King Cove residents for medical access to Cold Bay’s airport and opposed by conservation groups and three Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta tribes. The state and King Cove are still pursuing a separate road segment on corporation-owned land.

Glacier National Park Weighs Winter Access Changes for Private In-Holdings

Glacier National Park is considering new winter access options for private in-holdings, including allowing snowmobile use or letting landowners plow their own access, a shift from the ski-or-snowshoe-only policy the park has upheld even through past lawsuits. Park Superintendent Dave Roemer told nearby communities the changes could affect properties near Big Prairie on Kintla Road and along Camas Road.

New Podcast: On Common Ground, An American Inheritance

The Wild Line is pointing listeners to On Common Ground: An American Inheritance, a six-part documentary podcast hosted by Dave Hedden and former Wild Idea guest John Leshy exploring the immediate threats facing America’s public lands. Catch our conversation with John in Episode 61. Find the new podcast on the same platforms as The Wild Line and The Wild Idea.

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Next Week

That’s our report for August 21, 2026.

We’ll be back next week with more land stories that matter. Next Tuesday on The Wild Idea, we sit down with Adam Cramer, CEO of the Outdoor Alliance.

Until then — Act Up and Run Wild.

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