Sponsors (2)
This bill secures several thousand acres of new wilderness protection and enables targeted aquatic restoration while limiting some local economic uses and imposing short‑term recreational disturbances and additional administrative work.
Rural communities, local governments, and the public gain long‑term protection for roughly 5,600 acres (≈1,000 acres added to Rough Mountain Wilderness and ≈4,600 acres in Rich Hole), conserving habitat, biodiversity, landscape connectivity, and recreation access.
Local governments, downstream water users, and aquatic ecosystems benefit from allowed targeted water‑quality and fish‑passage restoration work to be done before final wilderness designation, using only the minimum practicable tools to limit impacts on wilderness character.
Owners/operators and some local economies near the designated areas face new land‑use restrictions on about 5,600 acres that could limit timber activity, road projects, or other development opportunities.
Visitors and nearby residents may experience temporary reductions in solitude and recreation quality while motorized or mechanized restoration work is carried out in the potential wilderness areas.
The Forest Service and the Secretary must undertake additional planning, reporting, and project implementation tasks, imposing administrative workload and possible budgetary needs on federal and state agencies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds ~1,000 acres to Rough Mountain Wilderness and creates a ~4,600‑acre potential Rich Hole Wilderness that converts on agency notice or automatically after 5 years, allowing limited water‑quality work.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by Timothy Michael Kaine · Last progress May 8, 2025
Adds about 1,000 acres to the Rough Mountain Wilderness in George Washington National Forest and creates a roughly 4,600‑acre Rich Hole area that will become wilderness either when the Secretary of Agriculture certifies certain water‑quality work is complete or automatically five years after the law is enacted. Until Rich Hole is incorporated, it is managed like wilderness but allows the Secretary to use motorized or mechanized tools for specified water‑quality and aquatic‑passage work under strict limits to minimize harm to wilderness character.