In January, the USDA restored the Roadless Rule in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. This ruling protects America’s largest national forest from road construction and timber harvesting for over nine million acres of undeveloped land. It is estimated that the Tongass stores more carbon than any other national forest in the country, making this landscape…
On January 26th, Secretary Deb Haaland and the Department of the Interior announced a 20-year mining ban on federal lands around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. This protection prevents the most-visited wilderness in the country from the negative impacts of copper mining on both the environment and the regional economy. The Boundary Waters is…
In late January, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued its final determination to put in place Clean Water Act protections to finally end the threat of the Pebble Mine and similar mining activities from 309 square miles of the Bristol Bay watershed. After a thorough review, the EPA determined that the discharge from mining…
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico Office has acquired a right-of-way from the New Mexico State Land Office (NMSLO) to improve recreational access along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDNST). The right-of-way will authorize and facilitate hiking through segments of state land located along the CDNST and will enable federal funds to…
The Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT) continues to make progress in its “Rise Up for the Santa River” campaign, for which it received a Conservation Alliance grant. The campaign seeks to protect 818 acres of Florida’s Santa Fe River watershed. The designated area includes crucial wildlife and healthy forest habitat, freshwater springs, riverbank, and portions of…
The Bracken Mountain Preserve, which sits directly between the city of Brevard, North Carolina, and the Pisgah National Forest, recently grew by nearly 10% and reached a total of 425 acres of protected healthy forest. In late fall 2022, 34 acres of undeveloped healthy forest adjacent to the existing Bracken Mountain Preserve was put up…
In October 2020, the Gunks Climbers’ Coalition (GCC) purchased a 61-acre parcel of land in the Shawangunk Mountains close to New Paltz, NY. The purchase was made possible by a loan from the Access Fund and includes 1,000 feet of the Millbrook Mountain cliff line, including the historic Antlion Crag that will add 70-100 high-quality…
In November 2022, the Trust for Public Land and its partners, Klamath County and the Klamath Trails Alliance, finalized the acquisition of Spence Mountain. This 7,500-acre area in southern Oregon includes forestland that rises to 5,800 feet along the Upper Klamath Lake and is located near Winema National Forest, and Mountain Lakes and Sky Lakes…
Thanks to a conservation collaboration by a longtime traditional landowner, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation 3,600 acres of wildlife and riparian habitat in the Big Hole River watershed will now be protected as public lands. This recent acquisition includes two miles of the Big Hole River and two…
In December of 2021, Northeast Wilderness Trust established the Woodbury Mountain Wilderness Preserve, and has since added more acreage to the Preserve, cumulatively protecting 6,098 wild acres near Montpelier, Vermont. With stunning northern hardwood forests, many types of wetlands, and 39 miles of headwater streams, the land protects regional wildlife connections, as it sits at…
