John Leshy: The Hollowing Out of America’s Public Lands

The Wild Line: New Wilderness Directives, Congress Approves $2 Billion for Parks, Former Big Bend Supervisors Fight Border Wall

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking new federal directives reshaping wilderness management for climbing anchors and livestock grazing, a bipartisan bill that would restore nearly $2 billion annually for national park maintenance, and a legal battle over a proposed oil road through Utah's most culturally significant canyon corridor. From the Senate's quiet protection of Grand Staircase-Escalante to a federal court's order restoring park displays, this week brought a complicated mix of setbacks and hard-won wins for public lands. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com. [https://thewildidea.com]

Sheena Pate: The Rivers That Launched the Wild and Scenic Act

The Three Forks of the Flathead River in northwest Montana didn't just earn Wild and Scenic designation — they inspired the law that made it possible. In the 1950s, a proposed dam at Spruce Park would have dewatered the Middle Fork entirely, routing its flow through a mountain tunnel into Hungry Horse Reservoir. Wildlife biologists John and Frank Craighead floated the river to document what would be lost, and their fight against the dam seeded the movement that became the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The three forks themselves weren't formally designated until 1976 — 50 years ago this year. Recorded live at Lake Baked in Bigfork, Montana during the annual Whitewater Festival, this episode features Sheena Pate, executive director of the Flathead Rivers Alliance (FRA), in conversation with Bill and Anders about what protecting 219 miles of wild river actually requires on the ground today. FRA runs a River Ambassador Program, an annual noxious weed pull with 165 volunteers, water quality monitoring, youth programming, and boots-on-ground education at put-ins across all three forks — work that has become more urgent as recreation pressure has grown and federal agency capacity has shrunk. The conversation covers the distinct character of the North, Middle, and South forks; the transboundary dimension of the North Fork, which originates in Ktunaxa Nation territory in British Columbia; FRA's partnerships with First Nations tribes and the Blackfeet; and the long-overdue update to the 1980s river management plan. Bill is a former board member of FRA who was there at the organization's founding, which gives the conversation an unusually frank quality about what it takes to build a river stewardship organization from scratch. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com [https://thewildidea.com/].

The Wild Line: Trump Targets Recommended Wilderness, Lee Launches Attack on Roadless, Interior Designates New Trails

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking a lackluster oil and gas lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a draft Forest Service memo that could open recommended wilderness to off-road vehicles, Senator Mike Lee's move to nullify the Roadless Rule, and a bipartisan bill to keep public land sales out of budget reconciliation. From Alaska to Appalachia, these stories come down to who decides the future of America's public lands. For more on these stories and the links mentioned, visit our website at thewildidea.com. [https://thewildidea.com]

Kaitlin de Varona: Stewardship as a Form of Advocacy

Kaitlin de Varona is the executive director of Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards (SAWS), the nonprofit that has spent more than a decade building a community of skilled, committed wilderness stewards across the Southeast. In this special episode, she joins Bill and Anders — both former SAWS leaders who helped shape the organization — for a wide-ranging conversation about what it takes to keep wild places healthy and accessible for generations to come. From the passage of the Tennessee Wilderness Act in 2018 to the harrowing weeks following Hurricane Helene in 2024, SAWS has repeatedly proven that consistent stewardship changes minds, builds coalitions, and, when disaster strikes, can respond to the wilderness faster than anyone expected. In the months after Helene, Kaitlin's pro crews deployed into remote Tennessee backcountry in winter conditions with one week's notice, clearing 700 downed trees using only traditional tools. Meanwhile, she worked to ensure that not a single staff member lost their job in the storm's aftermath. This episode is part of The Wild Idea's Month of Stewards series and captures a moment of genuine transformation for SAWS: the organization has grown to approximately 70 employees, launched year-round professional crews with benefits, and continues to expand the Wilderness Skills Institute — all while staying true to the founding conviction that places worth protecting are worth showing up for, again and again. Learn more and find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com [https://thewildidea.com].

The Wild Line: Trump Repeals Motorized Protections, the CRA comes for Utah, Appropriators Slash Funding for National Parks

This week on The Wild Line, we're tracking the White House's repeal of decades-old off-road vehicle protections on public lands, House appropriations cuts to national parks and the EPA, the collapse of federal conservation program funding for farmers, and the withdrawal of NSF's deep-sea ocean monitoring network. From rolling back environmental safeguards to shrinking the public institutions that protect land and water, these stories trace a consistent direction in 2026. Find the links and resources mentioned today at our website, thewildidea.com [https://thewildidea.com].