00:00:01,180 --> 00:00:36,380 [Speaker 0]
Welcome to The Wild Line, where land stories are the lead stories. This is our report for August 7th, 2026. Thanks for joining us in our new feed. Be sure to recommend the new Wild Line feed to your friends and family. And one more favor, we wanna hear from you on what do you like, what do you wanna see different. Please go to thewildidea.com to take our survey. As always, we appreciate you being a part of this community. The Forest Service has opened a 30-day comment period, closing on August 28th, on Rare Element Resources' proposed Bear Lodge rare earth mine in Wyoming's Black Hills National Forest. 

00:00:37,490 --> 00:00:49,780 [Speaker 0]
That mine, a roughly 132-acre, 400-feet deep open pit, would be sited just 14 miles from Devil's Tower, which is sacred to more than 20 Northern Plains nations. 

00:00:50,840 --> 00:01:33,320 [Speaker 0]
Because the ore carries thorium and uranium alongside rare earths, there are concerns about radioactive dust, groundwater down draw, and potential lake forming in the pit after its closure 17 years from now. Notably, the agency says it won't publish a draft environmental impact statement, meaning this comment window is effectively the entire public process before the study is finalized in late 2027. Because the project has been proposed and will be signed by Undersecretary Michael Boren, a Trump mega-donor with a history of Forest Service disputes, the public's right to object or appeal will be removed under Public Rule 36 CFR 218. 

00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:59,390 [Speaker 1]
Also impacting Wyoming, last Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation released a new 10-year management plan for the Colorado River, forcing steep mandatory cuts of up to 3 1000000 acre-feet annually for the lower basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. This decision, driven by historic low reservoir levels and a 20% reduction in river flow since the year 2000, aims to avoid a total system failure of Lake Mead and Lake Powell. 

00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:42,400 [Speaker 1]
Key elements of the 2026 decision included targeted cuts as the aforementioned states face up to a 40% reduction in their supply, with Arizona projected to take the heaviest hits. The upper basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming are spared mandatory cuts, but are expected to engage in voluntary federally funded conservation of up to 200000 acre-feet annually. The plan operates through 2036, replacing the 2007 guidelines, and includes a mechanism to update operations every 2 years based on changing hydrology. The plan is expected to trigger lawsuits from lower basin stakeholders, particularly in Arizona, who argue that these cuts are inequitable. 

00:02:42,400 --> 00:05:04,260 [Speaker 0]
Speaking of water, on Sunday, July 26th in North Carolina, along the banks of Wilson Creek, a federally designated wild and scenic river that flows out of the Pisgah National Forest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, conducted a raid that resulted in 13 arrests for so-called immigration violations. Later, local reporting revealed that ICE claimed this action happened at the request of the Forest Service. The Wilson Creek corridor is a popular recreation destination for the Hispanic community, so much so that in recent years, the Forest Service has installed bilingual signage throughout the area. On a side note, the area is popular with so many communities, including the local Hmong community, many of whom immigrated to America from Laos during the Vietnam War. Wilson Creek has always had a true multicultural feel on busy weekends throughout the summer. So, why is a podcast on public lands covering a story about ICE? Well, 1st of all, because the operation took place on National Forest land, but more importantly, that US Forest Service law enforcement participated in the operation. To us, that seems like an unprecedented step in this escalating war on immigrants and removes staff from their responsibilities to protect the natural resources and the people that enjoy them. It's a real shame to conduct such an ugly action in a place that has brought joy for people of all backgrounds. As immigration enforcement actions increasingly affect communities across the United States, their impacts are extending beyond neighborhoods and workplaces to parks, public lands, and the outdoor spaces that connect us all. These policies are influencing who feels safe accessing parks, shaping the conservation workforce, affecting outdoor businesses and non-profit organizations, and creating new challenges for the agencies that steward our public lands. In California, Green Latinos has organized a timely webinar for today, August 7th, entitled Access at Risk: Immigration Enforcement and the Future of Park Equity and Public Lands in California. The webinar is designed to explore how immigration enforcement policies are affecting access to parks and public lands across California. You can learn more and register for the webinar by visiting the link in our show notes. There's more to come. We'll be right back. Public land stories continue right now. 

00:05:04,260 --> 00:06:06,956 [Speaker 1]
The Center for Western Priorities is reporting that the Bureau of Land Management has approved what's believed to be the 1st data center on BLM-managed public land in Boulder City, Nevada by letting developer Townsite Solar 2 convert a parcel originally approved in 2023 for a solar and battery project into an AI data center without a fresh environmental review or any public comment. BLM justified the switch using a determination of NEPA adequacy, claiming that a solar project and a data center are, quote, "Substantially the same based on similarities in acreage, footprint, and construction time," even though the data center would consume more power than all of neighboring Boulder City itself. Local officials and the Sierra Club's Toiyabe chapter call it a, quote, "Bait and switch," warning that if the precedent stands, it could spread to fast-track data centers on public lands nationwide. And a former senior BLM official called it an extraordinarily liberal reading of the law. 

00:06:06,956 --> 00:06:23,856 [Speaker 1]
Reporting also suggests that the Bernhardt Group, the lobbying firm of former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, may have helped in the decision, having been hired by a townsite backer around the time of the switch, though the client denies any lobbying happened on this specific project. 

00:06:23,856 --> 00:07:32,036 [Speaker 0]
Along those same lines, this week through a Freedom of Information request and through reporting by the New York Times, it was uncovered just how brazen the lies are about public land management coming from the Trump administration and, in particular, President Trump himself. When the president sharply reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah last month by a combined 3 1000000 acres, he claimed it was necessary because recreation was virtually impossible within the site's boundaries. When speaking specifically about Bears Ears, he famously claimed, "You can't even walk there." I think we're all numb to the repeated lies from his mouth, but most shocking was Department of Interior staff in the announcement ceremony reinforcing the lie. In particular, Kate MacGregor, the number 2 person at the department, who after Trump made the false statement about access, said, quote, "That's exactly right, sir. So you are remedying that today." Here is Steve Block, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, on just how easy it is to demonstrate the falsehoods coming from Interior and the White House. 

00:07:32,036 --> 00:07:48,796 [Speaker 2]
You only have to go to the State of Utah's Travel Council webpage to see that the state is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Because while Mike Lee, Spencer Cox, all these people are nodding along that, yes, this monument is a, uh-- 

00:07:50,916 --> 00:08:05,436 [Speaker 2]
Making the argument that the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments are like museums that you can only look but not touch, a favorite Mike Lee statement. I, you know, frankly think he doesn't get outside very much. 

00:08:07,196 --> 00:08:13,766 [Speaker 2]
Because you look at the Travel Council page from the State of Utah, and there's all sorts of information there about 

00:08:14,956 --> 00:08:33,076 [Speaker 2]
how you can explore these 2 national monuments, how you can hike, fish, hunt. Here's links to guides and outfitters. Here are local businesses. Here's all these activities. Wanna take your off-road vehicle? There's 900 miles of roads and trails in the Grand Staircase alone. So 

00:08:34,396 --> 00:08:34,556 [Speaker 2]
I'm 

00:08:36,476 --> 00:08:45,716 [Speaker 2]
so grateful that the Times confirmed that the state and the Interior Department had gone back and forth and that the Interior Department 

00:08:47,076 --> 00:09:04,156 [Speaker 2]
knew better, uh, was lying when it told Trump that you can't hunt, fish, walk in these monuments. But it's kind of like saying the sun rises in the east. I mean, [laughs] this is something that all of us know if you live in the West, 

00:09:05,736 --> 00:09:13,706 [Speaker 2]
if you've visited these places from across the country, you know that national monuments are public treasures to be explored and enjoyed. 

00:09:13,706 --> 00:09:52,956 [Speaker 0]
The fight for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante is starting to heat up. 2 letters of note from the past couple of weeks. The 1st, a letter from 37 members of the Senate to the administration expressing strong opposition to the July 13th proclamations that strip the protections for the monuments. The other from the Conservation Alliance, who submitted a business sign-on letter urging the administration to restore protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. Signed by more than one hundred and fifteen outdoor businesses, the letter underscores the importance of these iconic landscapes to tribal nations, local communities, outdoor recreation, and the outdoor economy. 

00:09:52,956 --> 00:10:54,336 [Speaker 1]
Let's move from Utah's red rock country to the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA Fisheries has denied a petition to list smalltail sharks, a Western Atlantic species ranging from Brazil to the Gulf of Mexico, under the Endangered Species Act, concluding in its 12-month finding that the species isn't in danger of extinction now or in the foreseeable future across all or a significant portion of its range. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for the listing in 2022, citing an estimated 80 percent population decline over the last 27 years. After NOAA missed its statutory deadline, CBD sued again in March 2025 and settled in February of this year, with the agency agreeing to issue a finding by August 12th, 2026. In this finding, issued last week, NOAA acknowledged that fishing pressure, chiefly bycatch of juveniles and female in net longline and trawl fisheries off of Northern Brazil, is the most significant threat to the species. But a team of 6 agency scientists nonetheless concluded that it doesn't warrant a listing. 

00:10:54,336 --> 00:11:23,576 [Speaker 0]
Despite local and strongly bipartisan opposition to planned activities, the permanently altering construction, or should we say destruction, within Big Bend National Park seems to be proceeding unimpeded. Equipment has moved into place, and no matter the impacts to one of America's iconic national parks, the US Customs and Border Protection contractors are about to put that equipment to work. Here is Bob Krumenaker, former superintendent of Big Bend National Park and current chair for Keep Big Bend Wild. 

00:11:23,576 --> 00:14:17,308 [Speaker 3]
CBP has published its, quote, unquote, "smart wall- smart wall map," indicating in vague terms what their intent is for Big Bend National Park. They have never published detailed locations, engineering plans, or anything else like that. So all we have to work on are what they have published on that fairly vague site. But one of the things that's most distressing is they're proposing to- ... build a road over a place called Mariscal Mountain, which is a high plateau on the southernmost part of Big Bend National Park. In fact, the river gr- the Rio Grande flows thr- around Mariscal Mountain and basically cuts through it as the Big Bend itself. It's probably the most remote part of the national park. It is where more peregrine falcons nest than any other place in the state of Texas, high- the highest density of peregrine falcons. And what's most distressing here is that there's absolutely no value from a security perspective to building this road, and the damage they will do is massive. The, the mountain goes 1,700 feet above the Rio Grande, and there are existing national park dirt roads on either side of it and a dirt road on the north side of it. So they're basically proposing a road that would go... On their map, it looks like it would go straight up the hill and then have switchbacks on the backside. That's where we have a trail right now. It's an impossible route for a road to go over, but there's absolutely no way they could build this thing without explosives and blasting, because the terrain just wouldn't allow it. And even if they were able to do that, there's-- because of the, the steepness of the road and the number of turns, odds are it would not save Border Patrol any time getting from point A to point B on either side of that mountain. The bigger worry is also that the spoil from road construction, particularly explosives, there's a real risk it could end up in the Rio Grande, having major impact on the channel of the river. And that being the border with Mexico, it's also subject to a treaty with Mexico that Homeland Security has no authority to waive. Nonetheless, it appears like they're gonna ignore it, and when pressed on that and other issues in the park, in fact, there are surveyors out and there's heavy equipment in the park so far still on roads as we speak, and Homeland Security answers, "Oh, we're just in the initial stages of planning and design." That's just not credible. It's simply not credible. Why are they there if they are simply in the initial stages of planning and design? They are going to destroy the wildest part of Big Bend National Park, an area that is recommended wilderness, if they go through with this plan. 

00:14:17,308 --> 00:14:42,328 [Speaker 0]
This week, Texas Congress members, through the leadership of Congressman Lloyd Doggett and joined by House Natural Resource Committee ranking member Jared Huffman, urged the Trump administration officials to delay work on the proposed road across and over Big Bend National Park's Mariscal Mountain until specific details of the project are made fully available and questions answered about the potentially irreparable destruction the project poses. 

00:14:42,328 --> 00:15:09,028 [Speaker 1]
This week, the National Parks Conservation Association released new polling data conducted by YouGov as it relates to several recent events impacting wildlife across the country, and it reveals what should not be surprising, that hunters and non-hunters alike value actions that improve wildlife habitats and population numbers and are dismayed when the actions move in the other direction. We caught up with Bart Melton, senior director for the Wildlife Program at NPCA. 

00:15:09,028 --> 00:16:28,708 [Speaker 4]
So our polling showed across, uh, 5 major national park wildlife issue areas, so hunting, energy development, endangered species recovery, uh, and more, that there's broad bipartisan public support for national park wildlife. And honestly, um, at this time when we're told a lot that we're divided, I think we were really excited to see just how united we are around park wildlife and some of these issues that are, are major policy concerns nationally these days. Um, across all these issues, across political parties, uh, across user groups from birdwatchers to dedicated hunters, uh, the polling results show that Americans want transparency, they want the opportunity to provide feedback, and they want the administration to prioritize wildlife conservation 1st. Um, I, I think our concern is that the expanding trend by the administration, shortening public comments, uh, or, or taking no comment at all in some instances, limiting scientific review, prioritizing energy development ex-extraction above all else, um, put national park wildlife at risk. And the polling shows that a majority of Americans, um, and American hunters simply don't seem to support that, um, when, when we ask them. 

00:16:28,708 --> 00:16:54,208 [Speaker 1]
Some of the recent activity regarding wildlife that sparked this poll included positive developments like wildlife corridor connectivity funding and an opportunity to secure new habitat in Florida's Everglades. But it also includes troubling developments like the administration opening national marine monuments to commercial fishing and the watering down of the definition of harm in the Endangered Species Act. We'll link to the full report in our show notes. 

00:16:54,208 --> 00:17:18,468 [Speaker 0]
That is our report for August 7th, 2026. I will note that there is a ton of resource materials behind these stories, and if you want to dig deeper, we encourage you to go to our show notes at thewildidea.com. We will be back next week with another edition of The Wild Line, and next Tuesday on The Wild Idea, we talk with fly-fishing guide and founder of Cast Hope, Ryan Johnston. Until then, act up and run wild. 

00:17:18,468 --> 00:17:40,728 [Speaker 5]
[instrumental music] The Wild Line is a production of Wild Idea Media. Production and editing by Bryn Russell at Podlad. Digital support by Holly Wilkoszewski at Daypack Digital. Our theme music, Spring Hill Jack, is from Railroad Earth and was composed by John Skehan. The executive producer is Laura Hodge. Learn more about us at thewildidea.com. 

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