Sponsors (13)
This bill preserves and connects large tracts of public lands to protect water, wildlife, and recreation—benefiting ecosystems and outdoor economies—while imposing significant limits on extractive uses, access, and local flexibility that can reduce resource jobs, raise federal management costs, and create state/local tensions.
Rural communities, downstream water users, and recreationists keep millions of acres of roadless and wilderness public lands that protect drinking water, watershed quality, and habitat for fish and listed species, supporting long‑term biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Hikers, outfitters, small tourism businesses, and nearby towns gain expanded outdoor recreation and tourism destinations from many newly designated wilderness and river protections, supporting local economic diversification and recreation-based revenue.
Public agencies, land managers, and the public get clearer management boundaries, mapping, and statutory direction (including incorporation into the National Wilderness Preservation System and mapped legal descriptions), which reduces long-term regulatory uncertainty and improves stewardship planning.
Timber, mining, oil and gas companies and workers across affected counties will lose or see reduced access to federal lands, likely reducing local extractive jobs, industry revenue, and county receipts in resource‑dependent communities.
Ranchers, motorized recreation users, utilities, and local governments face new limits on grazing, motorized access, roadbuilding, and certain infrastructure projects inside many new protected areas, complicating local uses and emergency access.
Federal agencies and taxpayers may face increased management, restoration, monitoring (including satellite GIS), and legal defense costs to implement, staff, and maintain the expanded protections, potentially requiring budget increases or reallocated agency funds.
Based on analysis of 26 sections of legislative text.
Designates many new wilderness areas, wild and scenic river segments, biological corridors, and wildland recovery areas across five states and restricts roads and industrial development in them.
Introduced March 27, 2025 by Madeleine Dean · Last progress March 27, 2025
Designates large tracts of federal lands across Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming as new wilderness areas, wild and scenic river segments, biological connecting corridors, and wildland recovery areas, and sets rules to protect them. The law restricts new roads, industrial development (timber harvest, mining, oil and gas), and certain forms of logging in those areas; requires plans and monitoring to restore and maintain roadless, wild conditions; preserves tribal access and federal water rights; and directs interagency coordination and scientific monitoring.