The Wild Line

This week, Congress returned to Washington and immediately released draft versions of several major FY26 funding bills affecting public lands, wildlife, wildfire management, and conservation programs across the federal government. We explore what’s at stake. We also track renewed congressional efforts to advance the Fix Our Forests Act, unpack a tragic and rare fatal mountain lion attack in Colorado, and examine how states are stepping in to protect wetlands and waterways after the Supreme Court’s rollback of Clean Water Act protections.

This week’s Wild Line covers House passage of the SPEED Act and its implications for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a slate of wildfire and public lands bills advancing in the Senate, a serious new threat to the National Park System, sweeping rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act, mounting impacts from Forest Service staffing cuts, changes to water quality protections in Montana, and growing concern over efforts to rescind the Roadless Rule.

This week’s Wild Line covers Congress’ work on the National Defense Authorization Act, new House actions to weaken the Clean Water Act, a broad Senate hearing on National Park Service and Wild and Scenic River bills, major shifts at the National Park Service and Forest Service, housing proposals in Wyoming, and a federal ruling restoring the nation’s renewable wind program.

This week’s Wild Line covers a sweeping Senate hearing on 26 public lands and wildfire bills, a significant vote affecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, new moves by the Forest Service on roadless protections and off-highway vehicle rules, fee increases in national parks, and a major milestone for the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

This week’s Wild Line looks at two House attempts to undo conservation safeguards in Alaska, a pair of Hill hearings with major implications for public lands, and new Endangered Species Act proposals that would weaken protections for vulnerable species. We also track funding efforts for wildlife crossings, agency staffing turmoil, and a proposed rule that would remove protections for most of the country’s wetlands.

This week’s Wild Line looks at the end of the shutdown, what the new continuing resolution means for public lands and civil servants, and how Congress is lining up for a busy set of hearings next week. We follow new pressure on the Public Lands Rule, a withdrawn National Park Service nomination, the latest turns in the Colorado River negotiations, and reactions to a federal move that sidelines tribal approval on hydroelectric projects. We also cover Chevron’s major energy plans in West Texas, new proposed activity in the Western Arctic, and a report highlighting key Colorado landscapes ready for lasting protection.

This week’s Wild Line highlights the impacts of the ongoing shutdown on public lands and civil servants. We share the latest on uncertainty over backpay and high-profile firings and hirings in the conservation world, federal progress on wetlands protection, and concerning efforts to roll back protections in Chaco Canyon and allow chainsaws in wilderness areas. We look at the latest nomination to run the Bureau of Land Management, and close with a win for climbing access in North Carolina.

This week’s Wild Line opens with a federal court order that halts layoffs at the Department of the Interior during the shutdown. In Washington, Senators launched a new bipartisan Senate Stewardship Caucus. 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.

This week’s Wild Line opens with new details on the ongoing federal shutdown, including Interior’s plan to cut more than 2,000 jobs across its agencies and furloughs at the Environmental Protection Agency. We look at a busy week on Capitol Hill, where the Senate advanced a package of wilderness bills and a controversial forest management proposal, while the House pressed for restoration of Stonewall National Monument’s LGBTQ+ history. We also cover deregulatory moves inside the White House, a major land acquisition in North Carolina, leadership news from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Supreme Court’s decision on corner-crossing. From Alaska, we report on new resolutions from the Alaska Federation of Natives and breaking developments on the Izembek road and Arctic Refuge drilling. Plus, the Outdoor Alliance takes its work to Capitol Hill.

This week’s Wild Line opens with a look at the 17-day-old federal shutdown and its ripple effects across the public lands workforce, from widespread layoffs to the potential loss of recreation-driven economies. We share highlights from the Rocky Mountain Wilderness...

This week’s Wild Line explores the President’s decision to greenlight construction of the Ambler Road through the heart of northwestern Alaska, new developments in Congress affecting millions of acres of BLM lands in Montana and North Dakota, and legislation that would allow border patrol operations inside wilderness areas. Plus: setbacks in federal wildfire mitigation, the creation of a new Wildland Fire Service, changes to NEPA guidance, major EPA funding cuts, and state and local conservation news across the country.

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...