This week, the Forest Service proposes to flip its travel management rule, opening national forests to motorized vehicles everywhere except specifically closed areas. Nevada sues the federal government over Colorado River cuts that could slash its water allocation by up to 71 percent annually, and Gulf Coast advocates rally this weekend to defend endangered species from an oil-and-gas exemption to the Endangered Species Act. We also cover record glyphosate use on California's national forests, a reshuffling of dozens of senior career staff at the Interior Department, a Texas music compilation raising money for the Big Bend Conservation Alliance, and the close of National Park Week.

Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com.

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This week, USDA opens a public comment period on its plan to rescind the Roadless Rule, which protects close to 45 million acres of National Forest. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issues new state-level protections for the Boundary Waters watershed, and mining claims surface inside Utah's downsized Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments as Senator Mike Lee moves to challenge Bears Ears' management plan.

We also cover a federal court blocking a road through Alaska's Izembek refuge, a paused CBP border project in Big Bend, scrutiny of a Forest Service official's firefighting request near his own ranch, proposed winter access changes at Glacier National Park, and a plug for the new podcast On Common Ground: An American Inheritance.

Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com.

This week, USDA nears a draft decision on rescinding the Roadless Rule, which protects 48 million acres of National Forest land, and today is the final day to comment on a related Interior Department review of wilderness management policy. President Trump has nominated Project 2025 co-author Dennis Kirk as Interior's inspector general, and new reporting reveals the National Park Service is weighing a land swap that would clear the way for data center development inside Virginia's Prince William Forest Park. We also cover a muted offshore oil lease auction in the Gulf of Mexico, continued construction on the Big Bend National Park border road, and honor the wildland firefighters killed in this summer's intense fire season.

Full show notes and links at our website, thewildidea.com.

Support our show with a one-time or recurring gift through Buy Me a Coffee.