1.4 Million Acres of Wilderness-Eligible Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Public Lands in Wyoming Are Under Threat
On June 10, the Department of the Interior (DOI) opened a 60-day public comment period covering wilderness policies and guidance documents across the BLM, National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Under the guise of climbing guidance updates, this “review” opens eight comment processes across three agencies in an attempt to obscure the significance of a sweeping review of wilderness policies that affect millions of acres of public lands. This review also opens the door to rolling back protections for both Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) and Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWCs) on BLM lands here in Wyoming, as well as similar policies for identifying and protecting wilderness-quality lands managed by the USFWS and NPS.
Your voice is needed. Participate in the review process and tell the BLM what we already know: that existing agency policies have been developed and refined over many years to successfully manage wilderness-quality lands and balance conservation, recreation, access, and other public land management objectives. These policies do not need review!
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT
Tips for Successful Advocacy:
Be succinct, have a specific ask, and base your comment on personal experience. Why do your public BLM wildlands matter to you, and why do you want to see WSAs and LWCs remain protected under the existing and effective framework for management?
Talking points to consider:
Existing agency policies and guidance provide an effective framework for managing wilderness and wilderness-quality lands.
Current guidance helps agencies fulfill their statutory responsibilities, provides consistency for agency staff across offices and regions, and supports informed decision-making.
These policies have been developed and refined over many years and reflect longstanding management practices that have successfully balanced conservation, recreation, public access, and other land management objectives.
Maintaining existing guidance promotes continuity and certainty for agency personnel. No compelling justification has been provided for substantially revising or weakening these policies.
Comments are due August 14th. All comments made through our WWA action portal will be submitted to three wilderness policy review portals.
If you prefer to make your comments directly through the Regulations.gov website, please submit them to EACH of these portals:
BLM Manual 6320 – Considering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics
BLM Manual 6330 – Management of Wilderness Study Areas
BLM Manual 6340 – Management of Designated Wilderness Areas
If you cannot submit to each portal, add the following disclaimer to your comment:
“Applicability to All Comment Periods: Because the Department of the Interior has opened multiple, overlapping comment periods concerning wilderness stewardship policies across the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I request that the comments submitted below be considered and included in the administrative record for all related comment opportunities, including each policy, manual, guidance document, and wilderness stewardship review currently under consideration, including Management of Wilderness Study Areas (BLM-2026-0069), Considering Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (BLM-2026-0068), Management of Designated Wilderness Areas (BLM-2026-0067), Wilderness Stewardship (NPS-2026-0100), and Wilderness Administration and Resource Stewardship (FWS-HQ-NWRS-2026-2575).”
MORE ABOUT WSAs AND LWCs ON BLM WILDLANDS:
When Wyoming Wilderness Association (WWA) partnered with EcoFlight back in June to fly over seven BLM WSAs in Park, Bighorn, and Washakie counties, it was immediately apparent just how spectacularly wild these few and far-between parcels of land are. Many of these WSAs are some of the most intact ecosystems left in the United States, support a surprising amount of biological diversity, and protect and sustain clean air, clean water, wildlife habitat, and Indigenous cultural connections.
By claiming the review is about "removing unnecessary barriers," the administration is trying to obscure the fact that this effort aims to weaken protections, paving the way for short-term extractive industries, commercial development, and resource fragmentation at the expense of long-term conservation management of some of our wildest remaining public lands. However, the data backs what we know: continuing to protect wilderness qualities is consistent with protecting recreation.
Backcountry recreation, including climbing, has thrived in wilderness areas and lands with wilderness qualities for generations precisely because the land is managed to keep it wild. In fact, primitive recreation is a key component of wilderness character - if you degrade the wilderness character of iconic landscapes, you destroy the very outdoor recreation experience people from all over visit Wyoming to find. The DOI’s actions present a false choice between stewarding wilderness lands and providing opportunities for recreation.
Repealing these policies could affect future WSA status. If federal agencies weaken or eliminate the policies requiring them to manage for and protect wilderness characteristics, fewer lands may remain eligible for future Wilderness consideration. And if wilderness qualities are not identified, documented, and protected before development occurs, Congress may never have the opportunity to consider those lands for Wilderness designation, because the wilderness character could already be lost before important and informed decisions about managing them can be made.
Because while Congress retains authority to designate new wilderness areas, agency policies play an important role in identifying, evaluating, and managing lands with wilderness characteristics. Changes to those policies could influence how agencies inventory such lands, how wilderness characteristics are considered in management decisions, and what information is available for future wilderness evaluations.
In short, this action is part of a broader effort to weaken protections for America's public lands and shift management priorities away from the public interest and toward private development. The review of wilderness stewardship policies is simply the latest attempt to remove the guardrails that have protected some of America's most iconic and ecologically important public lands for decades.
Thank you for your dedication to our shared Wyoming public wildlands! Make your voice heard before the August 14th deadline: