The Wild Line

On this week’s Wild Line, we cover major developments in federal public lands policy, intensifying negotiations over the Colorado River, the Trump administration’s renewed push for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the rollback of climate journalism at the Washington Post. We also share timely opportunities for public comment and mark the passing of a giant in the conservation movement.

This week on The Wild Line, we cover major developments affecting public lands, national forests, tribal sovereignty, water protections, national parks, and conservation policy—plus what to watch in Congress in the coming days.

This week’s Wild Line tracks a fast-moving series of decisions on Capitol Hill and inside federal agencies that could reshape protections for wilderness, public lands, and conservation efforts nationwide. Bill and Anders cover the House vote targeting the Boundary Waters, contentious testimony around the EXPLORE Act, Interior Department actions affecting grazing and bison restoration in Montana, and a long-stalled highway project approved inside a National Conservation Area.

This week’s Wild Line covers a sweeping set of developments across federal land policy, wildfire response, public access, environmental regulation, and conservation funding — from Capitol Hill maneuvering that threatens the Boundary Waters, to Interior Department shakeups, EPA rulemaking decisions, and the 25th anniversary of the Roadless Rule.

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.