State Action Alerts
Key Issues
A new effort is underway in Congress to reverse the 20-year mining ban in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. On January 8, 2026, the Interior Department formally noted this initiative, and Representative Pete Stauber introduced HJ Res. 140 on January 12 to advance it using the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
This approach is concerning. Using the CRA in this manner is unprecedented and could weaken future protections for public lands across the country.
The Boundary Waters is a national treasure, home to world-class fishing, hunting, and outdoor recreation. Its watershed supports thousands of jobs and sustains local communities that depend on a clean, healthy environment.
We urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to oppose HJ Res. 140. Now is the time to stand up for responsible stewardship of our public lands and ensure places like the Boundary Waters remain protected for future generations.
On November 20th, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a new proposed rule to clarify the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act. The proposal aims to implement the Supreme Court’s 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision to limit the federal government’s authority under the Clean Water Act. In doing so, this proposed rule adopts narrower definitions of “relatively permanent” and “continuous surface connection” to determine whether waters fall under federal Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction. In practice, these restrictive definitions would remove protections from thousands of miles of streams and vast acres of wetlands- particularly those that are seasonal, intermittent, or ephemeral. The rule was published in the Federal Register on November 20, 2025, and public comments will be accepted through January 5, 2026.
Although the full impacts remain to be seen, the proposed rule would sharply limit the federal government’s ability to regulate pollution and conserve fish and wildlife habitat. Analyses of the EPA’s Regulatory Impact Analysis indicate that only about 19% of wetlands listed in the National Wetlands Inventory would remain protected. And with just 13 states maintaining laws comparable in scope to the CWA- and only about half of states having any statewide water protections- this proposed rule would significantly reduce oversight of pollution, dredging, draining, and development across the country.
For anglers, small streams, ephemeral waterways, and wetlands serve as the lifeblood of healthy fisheries. Headwater streams nurture trout, salmon, and other game fish, while wetlands and seasonal waterways provide critical spawning and rearing habitat. Without protection for these waters, water quality declines, spawning grounds are lost, and fish populations that anglers rely on face increased risk.
For hunters, wetlands, prairie potholes, and ephemeral streams provide essential habitat for waterfowl and other game species. These areas offer breeding grounds, feeding areas, and migratory stopovers for ducks, geese, and other birds that hunters pursue. Reducing protections for these waters threatens the habitats that sustain healthy populations and reliable hunting opportunities.
Join BHA in opposing these changes to WOTUS and supporting clean water and aquatic habitats across the country.
Across the nation, we rely on predictable, science-based land management plans to guide access for hunters and anglers, habitat restoration projects, and resource use on our public lands. These plans are developed through years of public input, environmental review, and local collaboration—and they form the foundation for how more than 160 million acres of public lands are managed for multiple uses, from grazing and energy development to hunting, fishing, and habitat conservation.
But Congress has now taken an unprecedented step. Using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), lawmakers have voted along party lines to overturn Bureau of Land Management’s resource management plans in Montana, North Dakota and Alaska—the first time the CRA has ever been used to nullify resource management plans.
This will bar agencies from issuing similar plans in the future, throw decades of science-based planning into chaos, and jeopardize hunting access and habitat protections across the country.
An Unprecedented Risk:
Never before has Congress used the CRA to target a land management plan. Doing so sets a dangerous precedent—casting doubt on nearly every BLM plan adopted since 1996 and undermining the public process that ensures balance between access, development, and habitat.
Confusion for Managing Multiple Use:
If these rollbacks stand, grazing, energy development, habitat restoration, and even hunting and fishing access could be thrown into legal limbo, reverting to outdated plans and conflicting management protocols.
Blocked Improvements:
Under the CRA, agencies will be prohibited from issuing any “substantially similar” plan in the future—even if changes are needed to expand access, restore habitat, or respond to shifting conditions on the ground.
Alaska Spotlight:
The Central Yukon Resource Management Plan (CYRMP) safeguards habitat and access while supporting hunting, fishing, trapping, recreation, and responsible development. This plan in particular has built-in special area management for iconic species like Dall sheep, caribou, and moose, showcasing and conserving Alaska's most iconic species. Built through years of public input and environmental review, it reflects the voices of Alaskans who depend on these wild lands. Similarly, overturning the 2022 Integrated Activity Plan for the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A) would erase years of public input—over 228,000 comments—and compromise both habitat and hunting opportunity in the Western Arctic.
Take Action. Tell your elected officials to support public processes for management plan amendments and not to use the CRA to roll them back. Our wild public lands and waters deserve long-term, science-based management that involves balance and compromise, not confusion and outdated science.
In February 2025, BHA launched an action alert opposing sweeping firings of federal staff who manage our public lands, waters, and wildlife. While some staff were later reinstated, many chose early retirement through the administration’s Deferred Resignation Program, resulting in an approximate 10-15% reduction of federal land management personnel.
In July, Secretary Brooke Rollins of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued memorandum SM 1078-015 outlining reorganization plans to further reduce USDA’s workforce. The plan consolidates the Forest Service’s nine Regional Offices into five USDA hubs and merges five stand-alone Research Stations into a single location in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The Department of the Interior (DOI), home to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), has been hit just as hard. DOI has already lost more than one in ten employees through firings, retirements, and attrition, and is now preparing additional workforce reductions. The loss of biologists, law enforcement officers, and refuge and range managers will directly undermine habitat restoration, migratory bird and fisheries programs, and recreational access on millions of acres of public lands and waters.
Now, with the federal government shut down, the White House and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) are going further — directing agencies to use this lapse in appropriations to prepare reductions in force (RIFs). What once would have been a temporary furlough could now become a permanent layoff for thousands of civil servants at the very agencies charged with safeguarding habitat, sustaining wildlife, and maintaining public access. On October 20th, DOI revealed a plan to cut over 2,000 jobs across the department, including major reductions to the U.S. Geological Survey, BLM, and the Office of the Secretary, according to court documents filed with the Northern District of California.
The loss of local expertise and the hollowing out of agencies like the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will undermine conservation for decades. As a result, hunters, anglers, and the local communities who depend on science-based management of public lands and waters will pay the price.
Join BHA in standing up for our wild public lands and waters today. Contact your members of Congress and tell them to support fully staffed public land management agencies to ensure our outdoor heritage endures for generations to come.
For more than half a century, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has been America’s most successful conservation and access program safeguarding fish and wildlife habitat, protecting clean water, and expanding public access for hunters, anglers, and all who love the outdoors. LWCF has delivered high-priority, bipartisan projects across the country. During President Trump’s first term, the Great America Outdoors Act (GAOA) was signed into law, providing permanent, dedicated funding of $900 million for LWCF.
The GAOA also authorized $1.6 billion annually through 2025 to address the deferred maintenance backlog on public lands. That funding is set to expire on September 30th, 2025 with the total deferred maintenance backlog currently estimated at $43.9 billion. There have been some positive signs from the administration and some congressional leaders to maintain full funding for LWCF at $900 million annually and to reauthorize $2 billion to address the deferred maintenance backlog on our public lands through S.1547 the America the Beautiful Act.
However, the bipartisan conservation legacy of the Great American Outdoors Act is at risk of being eroded.
On September 4th 2025, Department of Interior Secretary Bergum announced Secretarial Order 3442 which restricts LWCF’s mission and sidelines stakeholder-led acquisitions from willing sellers that have historically provided access for hunters and anglers. The order:
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Inserts political veto power by requiring written approval from both governors and local county officials before acquisitions can move forward— even when they involve willing sellers and enjoy broad local support.
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Narrows eligibility for acquisitions by restricting Bureau of Land Management projects that have historically expanded access and improved habitat across the West.
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Opens the door to land transfers by allowing states to use LWCF funds to purchase “surplus” federal property, setting a dangerous precedent that could pave the way for public land disposals if existing safeguards are bypassed.
Take Action: Encourage your senators and representatives to pass the America the Beautiful Act that reauthorizes funding for our ballooning deferred maintenance backlog—without siphoning any funding from LWCF—and encourage them to push back against subversive provisions in Secretarial Order 3442. LWCF must remain a program that expands access, conserves habitat, and strengthens communities—not one that that slowly erodes our federal public lands legacy.
Wild horses and burros are a powerful symbol of the American West—but their unchecked populations have pushed western rangelands, native wildlife, and public land budgets past the breaking point. Tell congress to get back to the original text of the Wild Horse and Burro Act —remove the appropriations riders that have cost the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars, caused significant damage to ecosystems and displaced native wildlife like deer, elk, pronghorn and more.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) now estimates more than 73,000 wild horses and burros on the range, nearly three times the congressionally established Appropriate Management Level (AML) of 25,556 horses. Another 62,853 animals are in holding, costing taxpayers approximately $101 million annually to feed — that’s over 70% of the Wild Horse & Burro Program’s entire budget, which over the last 6 years has cost American taxpayers over $786 million without addressing the root cause of the problem.
This crisis has been created and perpetuated by annual riders in federal appropriations bills since 2005 that block the BLM from fully implementing Section 1333 of the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act—tools like sale without limitation and humane euthanasia (as a last resort for unadoptable animals over 10 years old). Without these tools, the agency has been forced to warehouse animals instead of managing populations.
At the current pace, holding facilities will reach capacity within a year. Without space to place newly gathered animals, BLM will be forced to halt gathers, and it’s likely that wild horse populations will double on the range in as little as 4 years. The already devastating ecological consequences of a booming wild horse population would be amplified, requiring significant remediation and years of concentrated investment to restore stripped vegetation, repair dysfunctional riparian areas, and mitigate for loss of habitat that elk, deer, antelope, and sage grouse rely on.
The law is clear: the Secretary “shall” manage wild horses and burros to maintain a thriving natural ecological balance. But without the authority to use every tool Congress provided in 1971, the agency is set up to fail—and so is our landscape. We have to get back to the Act, before it’s too late.
Since 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has safeguarded some of our nation's most wild and intact national forest lands. The implementation of the Roadless Rule followed 600 local meetings as well as 1.6 million public comments, with 95% in support. Today 58 million acres of backcountry landscapes across 39 states are designated as Roadless Areas. The Roadless Rule did not close existing roads or trails, and exceptions to roadbuilding include access to inholdings and mineral leases. Additionally, select timber harvest is permitted within Inventoried Roadless Areas to reduce fire risk or to improve fish and wildlife habitat.
On August 29, 2025, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a Notice of Intent to rescind the Roadless Rule and to open 45 million acres of public lands to new roadbuilding and commercial timber harvest. There was a 21-day public comment period from August 29, 2025 to September 19, 2025, during which time public land owners could voice their opinion on the Notice of Intent to rescind the rule. In the coming weeks, BHA is anticipating the release of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which will detail how exactly the administration plans to rescind or revise the Rule. When the DEIS is released, a new comment period will open up, and we will need to make our voices heard.
The National Forest System already contains approximately 370,000 miles of roads. That’s twice as many miles of roads than the entire U.S. National Highway System and enough to circumnavigate the globe more than 14 times! Repealing the Roadless Rule will directly result in an expansion of that development network across currently unfractured fish and wildlife habitat. Further, repealing the Roadless Rule will only increase fire risk on our public lands as a majority of wildfires are human-caused and occur within a half mile of a road.
Join BHA in opposition to rescinding the Roadless Rule.
Where the road ends, the adventure begins.
The North Dakota Trust Lands Completion Act would allow the State to relinquish broad swaths of state trust lands inside Tribal reservation boundaries in exchange federal public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). As a result, those state trust lands would then be held in trust by the Department of the Interior on behalf of the Tribes. The federal public lands granted to the State in exchange would become state trust lands, by law managed to generate revenue through development. No action would be taken to offset the loss of these BLM lands to the public, resulting in a loss of access.
This is difficult to swallow in North Dakota, where sportsmen and women already have limited options to hunt public lands. There are only 58,000 surface acres of BLM lands in the entire state, and since this bill would make approximately 37,000 surface acres of state lands and 186,000 mineral acres within the boundaries of the Tribal reservations eligible for transfer, we could see a significant portion of North Dakota’s federal public lands lands lost in exchange.
Even more worrisome, nowhere in the valuation process is public use or recreational value considered, and the public hunter will be left out of this process completely with no way to oppose transfers or be involved at any level.
The bill also does not specify what federal acres or mineral rights would be targeted for transfer to the state, so the negative impact to North Dakota’s hunters and anglers could be even more outsized depending on the parcels and their appraised valuation. At this point, North Dakota hunters don’t even know which public lands stand to be lost.
Our Issues
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has opened a 14-day public comment period on a Request for Information (RFI) about drain tile setbacks- the minimum distance underground farm drainage systems should be installed from wetlands protected by federal conservation easements.
Since the 1960s, the USFWS and farmers have teamed up to conserve millions of acres of wetlands through easement agreements under the Small Wetlands Acquisition Program (SWAP). Through this program, willing landowners sell conservation easements that conserve wetlands while allowing farming and ranching to continue on the rest of their property. These wetlands provide important habitat for migratory waterfowl, and other wildlife, help reduce flooding, improve water quality, and support healthy landscapes for hunters and anglers. These easements are particularly important in the Prairie Pothole region spanning Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Many farmers use drain tile, underground pipes that remove excess water from fields, to improve crop production, allow for healthy soil draining, and avoid catastrophic flooding. But if drain tile is installed too close to a protected wetland, it can pull water away from the wetland and reduce its ability to support fish and wildlife.
To help prevent that, USFWS has used science-based setback standards for decades to determine how close drain tile can be installed to protected wetlands. In 2024, the USFWS finalized a rule that formally established a consistent process for calculating those setbacks. This rule also granted landowners who installed tile "safe harbor" if they followed FWS tile installation guidance and later the wetland was still found to have been drained.
The current RFI does not change the existing rule. USFWS is asking the public whether its current process needs to be changed. The comments received during this 14-day period will help inform the agency's next steps. BHA is encouraging sportsmen and women to provide comments to make sure that USFWS understands we support the past 60 years of precedent recognizing that voluntary conservation easement wetlands should not be drained.
on a Request for Information (RFI) about drain tile setbacks- the minimum distance underground farm drainage systems should be installed from wetlands protected by federal conservation easements.Since the 1960s, the USFWS and farmers have teamed up to conserve millions of acres of wetlands through easement agreements under the Small Wetlands Acquisition Program (SWAP). Through this program, willing landowners sell conservation easements that conserve wetlands while allowing farming and ranching to continue on the rest of their property. These wetlands provide important habitat for ducks, waterfowl, and other wildlife, help reduce flooding, improve water quality, and support healthy landscapes for hunters and anglers. These easements are particularly important in the Prairie Pothole region spanning Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and South DakotaMany farmers use drain tile, underground pipes that remove excess water from fields, to improve crop production, allow for healthy soil draining, and avoid catastrophic flooding. Butf drainpullTo help prevent that, USFWS has used science-based setback standards for decades to determine how close drain tile can be installed to protected wetlands. In 2024, the USFWS finalized a rule that formally established a consistent process for calculating those setbacks. This rule also granted landowners who installed tile "safe harbor" if they followed FWS tile installation guidance and later the wetland was still found to have been drained.
<span class="TextRun SCXW106520634 BCX0" data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-US" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; user-select: text; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22.0875px; font-family: " times="" new="" roman",="" "times="" roman_embeddedfont",="" roman_msfontservice",="" serif;="" font-variant-ligatures:="" none="" !important;"="" xml:lang="EN-US">The current RFI does not change the existing rule. USFWS is asking the public whether its current process needs to be changed. The comments received during this 14-day period will help inform the agency's next steps. BHA is encouraging sportsmen and women to provide comments to make sure that USFWS understands we support the past 60 years of precedent recognizing that voluntary conservation easement wetlands should not be drained.
This Wednesday (6/17), the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee will mark up the bipartisan America the Beautiful Act (S. 1547).
BHA is urging committee members to advance this bill without amendments.
With 32 Republicans, one Independent, and 31 Democrats, and cosponsors, the America the Beautiful Act represents the kind of bipartisan conservation success that has become all too rare in Washington. The bill would reauthorize the Legacy Restoration Fund, which expired in 2025, and help address the nearly $44 billion maintenance backlog across our public lands.
Support for this effort continues to grow in both the Senate and the House. Last week, House Natural Resources Committee leaders highlighted companion legislation, the Great American Outdoors Act 250, in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
BHA members have been helping lead the charge on this legislation over the past year. Last week, our Arkansas chapter leaders attended the House hearing in support of the legislation and during our spring BHA Fly-In, Idaho chapter leaders and BHA CEO Ryan "Cal" Callaghan met with Senators Risch and Crapo to discuss the importance of reauthorizing the Legacy Restoration Fund. Since then, both senators have signed on as cosponsors.
While the America the Beautiful Act has earned overwhelming bipartisan support, BHA is concerned of the possibility that poison-pill amendments could be offered during Wednesday's markup that threaten the coalition behind this bill. Hunters and anglers need senators to stand behind the legislation as introduced and reject efforts to weaken or derail this important conservation investment.
Tell Senate ENR members to support the America the Beautiful Act.
H.R. 7695, introduced by Harriet Hageman, would repeal the 2001 Roadless Rule and open millions of acres of National Forest lands to new road construction and increased habitat fragmentation.
For hunters and anglers, roadless areas conserve some of the best remaining fish and wildlife habitats in the country. These intact landscapes support fisheries, secure wildlife habitat, clean drinking water, and high-quality hunting and fishing opportunities.
The Forest Service already manages roughly 370,000 miles of roads and faces a massive, deferred maintenance backlog. H.R. 7695 would also direct the Forest Service to construct new roads for certain restoration and hazardous fuels reduction activities. Hunters and anglers are not facing a shortage of road access on public lands we are facing a shortage of intact habitat and healthy watersheds.
BHA supports active forest management and science-based wildfire mitigation. Roadless Areas are not wilderness closures. Hunting, fishing, grazing, recreation, habitat improvement projects, and hazardous fuels reduction already occur within these landscapes under the existing rule.
The original Roadless Rule followed one of the largest public engagement efforts in federal land management history, with overwhelming public participation from Americans across the country. Congress should not dismantle these long-standing protections without careful public input and scrutiny.
Tell your Representative to oppose H.R. 7695 and conserve America’s public lands for future generations of hunters and anglers.
Speak up now to oppose S.3527, the Montana Sportsmen “Conservation” Act.
S. 3527 would remove longstanding safeguards from the Middle Fork Judith, Hoodoo Mountain, and Wales Creek Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) that conserve intact wildlife habitat, protect migration corridors and sustain high-quality hunting and fishing opportunities on public lands
These places currently have WSA designations that keep habitat intact and protect the kind of backcountry hunting and fishing opportunity Montana sportsmen and women value. These areas hold secure elk habitat, healthy trout streams, and large, unbroken country where wildlife can thrive, and hunters can find real backcountry opportunity. If those protections are lifted, roads, development, and other changes could permanently alter the landscape and the experience.
Supporters say future management plans will protect hunting and fishing access. But those plans can be changed or overturned. We’ve all seen land management plans reversed in recent months through use of the Congressional Review Act (CRA). That’s why relying on temporary administrative plans isn’t the same as keeping strong, lasting protections in place.
Montana’s public lands are too important to gamble with. Tell your Senators to oppose S. 3527 ahead of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources markup-up on March 4th and keep these wild places intact for hunters and anglers today and for the next generation.
Alaska's Brooks Range, one of the last truly wild landscapes in North America, is under threat from the development of the Ambler Road — a 211-mile-long private industrial mining road. This project would compromise iconic hunting and fishing opportunities, the health of the 110-mile-long Kobuk River, a National Wild and Scenic River with world-class sheefish fishing, and result in irreversible impacts on the declining Western Arctic Caribou Herd.
The Ambler Road Project has been described by federal officials, as a project that would bring prosperity to Alaska and to the nation. In reality, it will cost the nation.
The Ambler Road would cost Alaskans an estimated $2 billion in public funds to construct and maintain, and its primary beneficiaries are two foreign mining corporations — Trilogy Metals of Canada and South32 of Australia. This is not a project rooted in America First values. The hunting and fishing economies in Alaska are already a stable and long-term economic resource, that provide for a way of life for all Alaskans.
In June of 2024, after rigorous and extensive public process, the Bureau of Land Management denied the right-of-way permit, halting the road. A collection of executive orders and secretarial orders, skirting and discrediting previous public processes, laid the groundwork for the Ambler Road. On October 6th, President Trump approved the appeal of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), directing his Administration to promptly issue authorizations necessary for the establishment of the Ambler Road Project.
Federal agencies including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have reissued the right-of-way and construction permits necessary to move the project forward. The Department of the Interior also transferred roughly 23,600 acres near Ambler to the State of Alaska, completing the state’s land selections and paving the way for industrial development. Officials have called these steps “supporting local control.” But in truth, they shift control from Alaskans and American citizens to foreign mining companies whose profits will flow overseas.
The Ambler Road will cut through wild country that defines Alaska’s outdoor heritage — land that supports local economies built on hunting, fishing, guiding, and recreation, not land suitable for industrial mining.
Support the continuation of the last great expanse in North America and ask your members of Congress to oppose legislative and administrative actions that would advance the Ambler Road, which carries major financial and natural resource risks to Alaska's fish, wildlife, and outdoor heritage.
In a move that has sparked significant concern among conservationists, the Department of the Interior (DOI) announced a formal proposal to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, commonly known as the Public Lands Rule. The announcement, made by DOI Secretary Doug Burgum on September 10, 2025, was published in the Federal Register on September 11, 2025, initiating a 60-day public comment period.
The Public Lands Rule, established under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, establishes conservation as a legitimate and vital use of public lands, placing it on equal footing with activities such as energy development, timber harvesting, grazing, and recreation. The rule also promotes innovative partnerships aimed at restoring and protecting the health of these landscapes for future generations.
The Public Lands Rule was shaped through an extensive public engagement process that garnered input from thousands of hunters, anglers, and other stakeholders. More than 90 percent of the feedback expressed strong support for the rule, underscoring the broad recognition of conservation’s role in safeguarding opportunities to hunt and fish, as well as protecting clean water and wildlife habitat across the 245 million acres of public lands managed by the BLM.
Join BHA in opposition to rescinding the Public Lands Rule before the 60-day public comment period ends on November 11, 2025.
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