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South Shale Ridge
In a significant public lands ruling, a federal judge told the BLM that the agency cannot lease whatever land it pleases for drilling without considering ways to protect its wilderness characteristics or without considering the effects of leasing and drilling on endangered species.
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Timber Settlement Sets the Stage for a 21st Century Tongass Plan
On April 3, 2007, conservation groups reached a settlement agreement with the Forest Service and the timber industry regarding the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, hammering out a way to safeguard important community use areas while keeping the mills supplied with timber until the agency issues a new forest plan. The Forest Service withdrew multiple timber sales approved under the illegal 1997 Tongass forest plan that targeted important community use areas, such as the Emerald Bay sale on the Cleveland Peninsula, pending completion of the current forest plan revision.
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White Pine County Lands Bill Passes
Congress passed the White Pine County public lands bill as part of year-end omnibus legislation. Key conservation measures in the legislation include the designation of 557,000 acres of wilderness on lands managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in Nevada.
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Federal Court Decision Protects Alaskan Lake, Wetlands From Oil Drilling
The US District Court for Alaska today issued a strongly worded decision that could save the internationally significant wildlife habitat around Teshekpuk Lake in the Northeast Planning Area of the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska (NPRA). The court found the government's environmental analysis violated federal environmental laws.
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Momentum Builds to Protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front
Company that originally proposed Blackleaf area drilling agrees to retire its Front leases. Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front working with additional companies to donate or sell Front leases as Montanas continue to express support for protecting Front.
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Court Decision Supports Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Closing the book on nine years of legal wrangling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the 1996 establishment of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The decision was a follow up to the 2004 district court decision that confirmed the President’s use of the Antiquities Act to establish the Monument.
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Three Wilderness Bills Pass US House of Representatives
The US House of Representatives has passed three proposals to extend permanent protection to a total of more than 670,000 acres of wilderness in California, Idaho and Oregon. If enacted, these bills would provide permanent protection to some of the most important unspoiled landscapes in each state.
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Governor Takes a Stand to Protect California's Roadless Areas
Governor Schwarzenegger announced today he is petitioning the U.S. Forest Service to develop specific rules for protecting roadless areas in California’s national forests. The announcement makes California the fifth state (and second with a Republican governor) to join the national, bipartisan effort to secure roadless protections for some of the wildest and most valuable areas in our national forests.
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New Draft of National Park Management Policies Appears to Restore Agency's Fundamental Mission
A new draft of the National Park Service’s Management Policies issued today reinforces the agency’s commitment to protect park resources such as air quality, and preserve wilderness and the experiences of visitors, according to conservation groups and retired National Park Service professionals. They called on Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Fran Mainella to finalize the draft policies. Preliminary analysis indicates that the National Park Service, after pressure from Congress, park experts, and the American public, produced a new draft that largely reflects the park-protective policies in the existing 2001 Management Policies.
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New Wilderness Designated
The 109th Congress has approved legislation adding significant wilderness areas in several states to the National Wilderness Preservation System. The Wilderness Society and our state partners fought hard for the designation of these areas. These victories prove that we can continue to obtain positive, preservation-minded victories even in the current political climate. These victories certainly are worth celebrating!
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Cedar Mountain Wilderness Bill Signed Into Law
On January 6, 2006, President Bush signed into law a bill that included designation of the 100,000-acre Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area in Utah (P.L. 109-163). The wilderness designation is part of the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) Protection Act, which was attached to the final version of the large Defense Authorization Act approved by Congress in December 2005. This legislation not only preserves this special wild area with exceptional recreational and natural features, but also allows the Air Force continued use of the Utah Test and Training Range, which includes air space above the wilderness area.
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Victory in the Lost River Valley
This summer, the Lost River and Pahsimeroi Valleys were spared from becoming home to the nation’s largest off-road vehicle trail and the first such trail to propose Idaho state management of federal lands.
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Maine WoodNet Honored
On November 26, 2005, the Western Mountains Alliance awarded the "King Cummings Leadership Award" to Maine WoodNet.
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President Bush Signs Ojito Wilderness Act
On Wednesday, October 26, 2005, President Bush signed the Ojito
Wilderness Act into law (Public Law No. 109-94). The measure
represents the first new wilderness law enacted during the 109th
Congress. The Ojito Wilderness is also the first new wilderness
area in New Mexico in 18 years and one of only a handful of
wilderness areas designated on land managed by the BLM in the state.
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Court Rules Administration Cannot Exclude Public Participation in Forest Service Projects
A District Court has ruled that the Administration must provide opportunities for the public to have input on land management projects on all lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service. In particular, the court ruling affects certain projects that were classified as "categorical exclusions," a process which the Administration has increasingly used to eliminate environmental analysis and reduce public participation.
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Victory For National Parks And The Florida Panther
United States District Judge John Steele ruled in favor of a National Park Service plan that protects Big Cypress National Preserve, one of the wildest areas in America teeming with cypress strands, hardwood swamps, and mangroves where rare Florida panthers still reside.
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Forest Service Halts Energy Leases on Bridger-Teton National Forest
The Forest Service has announced plans to temporarily defer oil and gas leasing of 175,000 acres in the Bridger-Teton National Forest’s Wyoming Range. The decision was in response to public outcry over the leasing, including opposition from Wyoming's governor, Wyoming Sen. Thomas, local ranchers, hunters, anglers and business owners, and conservation activists nationwide.
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Senate Passes Wild Sky Wilderness Bill
Late on November 24, 2003, the 106,000-acre Wild Sky Wilderness legislation was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate. It now awaits passage by the U.S. House of Representatives.
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DuPont Land Donation Will Protect Okefenokee
DuPont has agreed to donate to the Conservation Fund approximately 16,000 acres adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness Area in Georgia, also relinquishing mining rights to the property.
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Senate Committee Approves Wild Sky Wilderness Bill
On Wednesday, July 23, 2003, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the Wild Sky Wilderness Act of 2003 thereby clearing the measure for approval by the full Senate. The committee, which approved a nearly identical measure in the 107th Congress, passed the bill without debate or amendments. |
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