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The Wild Idea is an exploration of the intersection of wild nature and our own human nature. The hosts, Bill Hodge and Anders Reynolds, through conversations with experts and thought leaders will dive into the ways that humans have both embraced and impact the function and vitality of our remaining wild places.
Welcome to The Wild Line, where land stories are the lead stories. This is our report for June 12th, 2026.
Bill, a June 5th sale of oil and gas drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drew no bids from the North Slope's major players and garnered just over three point seven million in winning bids, a figure industry observers quickly characterized as underwhelming and conservation groups labeled a flop.
The sale was the first of four mandated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump, with each sale offering no fewer than four hundred thousand acres. The results continued a pattern of poor industry response. A 2021 sale drew only limited participation from the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and a 2025 sale drew zero bids entirely. Friday's sale offered fifty-eight tracts covering six hundred and eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-two acres at a minimum bid of twenty-five dollars per acre, using largely the same terms and tracts as the 2021 sale. The contrast with other nearby leasing was stark. An earlier sale in the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska, brought in nearly one hundred and sixty-four million dollars from major producers like ConocoPhillips and Repsol.
The following day, and only a week after Trump announced the repeal of two executive orders governing off-road vehicle use on public lands, The New York Times reported on the existence of a draft secretarial memo from Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins that would direct the U.S. Forest Service to review all roads, trails, areas, airstrips, and waterways across every national forest from Alaska to southern New Mexico and east to South Carolina that are currently closed to motorized recreation to determine whether they might be open to year-round ORV use. The most alarming dimension of the memo, according to conservation groups, is its potential to reach into the five point one eight million acres of Forest Service lands that the agency itself has recommended for official wilderness designation, landscapes that retain the wild, untrammeled character they had before European settlement. The Wilderness Society reports that these lands contain three thousand three hundred and twenty-five miles of trails, critical habitat for 30 threatened or endangered species, two point three million acres of top-tier biodiversity conservation value, and one point five million acres that are among the most important sources of clean surface drinking water for Western communities. We asked Paul Sanford, Director of Policy Analysis at The Wilderness Society, what comes next in the process and what public land communities can do to engage.
The agencies that have travel management regulations have regulations that have been issued through a process that, um, will have to be, uh, undone through a similar process, a rulemaking process, and that can take, uh, uh, a period of time, sometimes a year, sometimes even longer. And, um, usually there's a comment period, uh, embedded in that process in some way, but, uh, we're gonna have to see how it actually plays out in this circumstance. Then,
uh, they will have to decide what the dis- what the, the status of the travel management plans that were issued under those regulations will be. And those were also adopted under a process that involved typically, uh, environmental analysis and a comment opportunity from the public. So, um, uh, it-- there's at least, uh, a few steps, uh, in this, in, in this unraveling process. Uh, the first, the very first step was what they've already accomplished, the rescission of the 1970s executive orders. Next, they have to d- if they're gonna take this down or revise it or whatever they're going to do, they have to amend those regulations or delete or revi- or repeal them, and then they have to, uh, uh, deal with the travel management plans that have already been adopted. Listeners should be fully aware that the time to, to begin,
uh, speaking up about these issues is now. We can't wait until a proposed rule is published. Oftentimes, once a proposed rule is published, most of the fighting is done, and the cake is baked. The time is now to, uh, let your, uh, elected officials, uh, your local, uh, agency representatives, and, uh, your fellow citizens know what the impact of these policy changes are gonna be. This plays out the way it seems likely to play out. The experience of being on public lands is going to be different. And, um, if you value that experience, if you, if you engage in quiet recreation with your family, uh, on foot, on, on bicycles, um, on horseback, uh, you need to know that this is going to change the way, uh, being on public lands will be. And, um, the time to influence the outcome is not later. It's now. And, um, certainly a comment period, you wanna put in your comment period when-- your comments when the comment period comes up, but, uh, we can't wait for that to happen. Uh, they're making these decisions now, and so we need to be in there hustling and letting them know what we think they ought to do.
Fighting back against these attacks on public lands is New Mexico Democratic Representative Gabe Vasquez, who last week introduced a bill that would prevent members of Congress from slipping public land sales or transfers into unrelated budget reconciliation bills, a tactic Republicans used last year in an attempt to dispose of thousands of acres of federal land in Utah and Nevada.
Vasquez's legislation, called the Public Lands Integrity Act, would require that any permanent sale or transfer of public land receive full congressional consideration, including a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.Rather than a simple majority, effectively blocking such provisions from being bundled into reconciliation bills, which only require fifty-one votes to pass. The bill, I'm happy to say, is bipartisan, with Arizona Republican Representative Juan Ciscomani, Montana Republican Representative Ryan Zinke, Colorado Democratic Representative Joe Neguse, and Nevada Democratic Representative Dina Titus all signing on as co-sponsors. The bill is being carried in the Senate by Democrat Michael Bennet from Colorado.
Unfortunately, not every lawmaker cares as much about preserving access to public lands. On Tuesday, Utah senator and absolute Bond villain Mike Lee proposed adding to the previously negotiated and truly bipartisan Wildfire Prevention Act an amendment that would nullify the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. And in keeping with how these things go, his amendment was approved along with the rest of the bill. But the committee vote was now on party lines, undercutting the practical approach to the original intent of the bill of a negotiated common sense approach to addressing wildfire risk across the country. We'll keep you updated on how you can take action as this measure moves towards the Senate floor.
Back in Senator Lee's home state, the Bureau of Land Management and Utah Lieutenant Governor Deidre Henderson have signed a first of its kind co-management agreement that would allow the state to have a role in making decisions about two hundred and sixteen thousand nine hundred and ninety-five acres of public land in the San Rafael Swell. The agreement will allow the state to contribute four hundred and eighty hours a year toward trail maintenance and law enforcement. Though both parties were quick to say that no new trails will be added unless they are updated in the BLM's Master Travel Management plan. Even as they acknowledge that the area needs more resources, some critics worry that this could be the first step towards giving the federal lands in question over to the state for whatever they deem the highest use.
State officials and BLM employees disagree, saying that more involvement, even by state and local officials, will allow for better protection of recreation trails and cultural resources like rock art.
And in Montana, the U.S. Forest Service and Governor Greg Gianforte have announced a third shared stewardship location in the Lolo National Forest, adding another three hundred and forty-five thousand acres where the Forest Service will delegate forest management responsibility to the state. With two landscapes previously announced covering more than four hundred thousand acres across the Flathead, Kootenai, and Bitterroot National Forest, the program now jointly manages seven hundred and fifty thousand acres statewide. The partnership, formalized under a twenty-year shared stewardship agreement, allows Montana's Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to take an active role on federal lands, including designing and managing timber sales that can significantly offset the cost of forest work. The first project under the agreement, the Blacktail Powerline project on Blacktail Mountain near Lakeside, is slated to begin this year with the goal of thinning the forest and reducing fuel loads along a powerline corridor I can literally see from my house. Supporters frame the program as a practical landscape scale approach to forest health and wildfire resilience, though the announcement comes amid significant USFS staffing cuts following recent layoffs.
Speaking of Montana, Bill and I encourage you all to check out a piece from our friends at Republic, published in conjunction with ProPublica that was pushed out this week. It is a deep dive on the connection between Montana Senator Tim Sheehy's wildland firefighting outfit, Bridger Aerospace, and proposed changes to safety and airworthiness inspections conducted by the Forest Service for all of their contracted aviation service companies. Sheehy's company has received more than two hundred and thirty-five million dollars in contract payments for aerial firefighting services in the last five years. And now the senator is leading the fight to stand up to a whole new firefighting apparatus within the Department of the Interior. We will link to that story in our show notes.
Back on the East Coast, a new study published by the Virginia Department of Transportation finds there's no operational need in Virginia for a four to five lane highway from the West Virginia state line to I-81 near Strasburg, confirming a decision the state made thirty years ago to not extend West Virginia's Corridor H into the Commonwealth. The study comes at a time when West Virginia officials plan to issue contracts to build the five hundred and forty-two million, seven point five mile easternmost segment of its highway from Wardensville, West Virginia, across Great Northern Mountain and stop at the state line. Two citizens groups filed a federal lawsuit last month to block the project, saying it is unneeded and threatens natural and historic resources. They argue the state and federal highway agencies failed to consider less expensive and less harmful alternatives, and call for safety improvements to the existing two-lane Route 55 in West Virginia.
A report from National Transportation Organization last year found that one third of West Virginia's major roads are in, quote, poor or mediocre condition. And the number of bridges rated, quote, poor or structurally deficient is the highest in the United States.
Corridor H was envisioned in the nineteen seventies as a one hundred and fifty-seven mile highway to run from I-79 to I-81. Since then, West Virginia has built much of its portion. Although the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board decided more than thirty years ago to not extend Corridor H, West Virginia now plans to build its remaining seven point five mile segment from Wardensville east of the state line, where it would funnel traffic onto the two-lane Route Fifty-Five/Forty-Eight, known as the John Marshall Highway.
In its study, VDOT looked at existing traffic and forecasts along Route Fifty-Five/Forty-Eight and found that conditions would remain acceptable for the next one hundred years, even if doubling the traffic growth rate that West Virginia used to justify building its Wardensville segment.The agency concluded that, quote, "No operational recommendations are needed or proposed at this time," end quote. Two local groups, the Virginia Wilderness Committee and Stewards of the Potomac Highlands, are leading the charge against Corridor H. To learn more about that fight or to support their work, visit a highwaytonowhere.org or click through our show notes. More of the week's headlines following this short break. Back to our public land news. Following up on our reporting on this issue from earlier this year, yesterday President Trump signed a proclamation officially opening parts of four Pacific marine sanctuaries to commercial fishing under the pretense of reducing the consumer cost of seafood. While the movement has the support of some international and island fishery industry insiders, by and large, this move is opposed by citizens living in the American territories across the region. The sanctuaries were originally established by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
This past Saturday was National Trails Day, and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum took that opportunity to designate five new national recreation trails and one national water trail, adding 162.5 miles of hiking, paddling, and outdoor recreation opportunities across five states. The newly designated trails join a nationwide network of more than 1,300 national recreation trails found in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as part of our national trail system. Those new trails include the East Inlet Trail in Colorado, which passes Adams Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park and provides access to eight wilderness campsites. The Glacier Gorge Loop Trail, also in Colorado, which showcases some of Rocky Mountain National Park's most iconic scenery. The Monon South Trail in Indiana, a rails-to-trails corridor winding through a scenic rural landscape. The Bluff River Trail in Utah, which passes through cottonwood groves along the San Juan River. The Leopold's Preserve Trail in Virginia, which is actually a network of trails in a 380-acre preserve near D.C. And the Schuylkill River Water Trail in Pennsylvania, a 120-mile paddling route from Tuscarora to the Schuylkill River's confluence with the Delaware. It features both flat and whitewater opportunities.
Following up on another story we've been covering around the Colorado River, there is one positive development, sort of. The states that make up the Colorado River Basin have for years been struggling to reach a new agreement on how to divide up the water from the river with only minor progress being made. The river is expected to hit historic lows because of continuing drought conditions, record low snowpack this year, and growing demand in a parched Southwest. Well, there is some relief for Arizona and Nevada, thanks to one county in California. San Diego actually has a water surplus because of a desalination plant that has been online for about 10 years, and that is allowing the sale of some water rights back to the two desert states. As this crisis intensifies, the issues will go beyond access to water to serious impacts on power generation if Lake Mead reaches forecasted levels. But for now, there is that one glimmer of hope.
Finally, we bring you a story full of the usual nuance that exists in preserving wild places and how, no matter how much we have in common, there are still places between us that we need to resolve. The Department of the Interior this week announced a 60-day public comment period on proposed recreational climbing guidances and potential updates to wilderness study area management policies for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service.
Climbing advocates have been raising an alarm for years around the fear of losing the right to place fixed anchors on climbing routes in designated wilderness. Advocacy by climbers helped inform changes in the EXPLORE Act, a bipartisan bill that was passed during the last Congress, which seemed to settle those fears a bit. But here we are again with another administrative dive into the issue. This has been a topic that has the potential to split lovers of wild places into camps. And certainly, Bill and I have our own opinions on a specific word within wilderness management circles. That word is installation, as in are fixed anchors an installation and therefore subject to a proper review for compliance within the Wilderness Act. This is a subject we plan to jump into with both feet with a special episode coming up very soon on The Wild Idea.
Anders, as you mentioned, the other part of the announcement from DOI dealt with evaluating whether existing wilderness study areas and lands with wilderness characteristics policies should be updated, clarified, or revised to improve management and use some of America's most treasured landscapes. Literally, that's language from the release. This part of the release has set off alarm bells among advocates for wild lands across the country. We caught up with Cara Matsumoto, senior policy director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, for her initial reaction.
Uh, well, I would say my emotional response was kind of my heart dropping. Um, I feel like we've seen attacks on our public lands left and right from this administration from trying to sell off our public lands, trying to weaken protections for our public lands, and it just feels like another, uh, nail in the coffin for our public lands here. Uh, at the Conservation Lands Foundation, we really rely on our BLM policy manuals on lands with wilderness characteristics and wilderness study areas and management of designated wilderness areas to make sure that our public lands are managed responsibly and we continue to have lands that are set aside for ecological and cultural resources. And so it is very worrying to me that they are, uh, the administration is opening up these policy manuals for review.
Here's what Cara is hearing from stewards across the West.
Yeah, the Conservation Lands Foundation has a friends grassroots network of 90-plus organizations at this point all around the Western United States that help steward and manage and advocate for, uh, specific units of the National Conservation Lands, which is a specific designation under, uh, the Bureau of Land Management, as well as kind of Bureau of Land Management lands more generally. Um, this announcement came out late yesterday, so we are still all getting our ducks in a row, but already I'm starting to hear, uh, messages of alarm from many of our friends groups across the country. Uh, many of these groups work very closely, um, on wilderness areas and wilderness study areas, and so they are very concerned about what these policy changes might mean for the landscapes that they care so much about, that they recreate on, um, that they really call their backyards.
That is our report for June 12th, 2026. We will be back next Friday with another edition of the Wild Line, and next Tuesday on the Wild Idea, we continue Stewardship Month. The conversation with Sheena Pate, Executive Director of the Flathead Rivers Alliance. Until then, act up and run wild.
The Wild Line is a production of Wild Idea Media. Production and editing by Bryn Russell at Podlad. Digital support by Holly Wilczeski at Daypack Digital. Our theme music, Spring Hill Jack, is from Railroad Earth and was composed by John Skehan. The executive producer is Lara Hodge. Learn more about us at thewildidea.com.