
Wilderness Legislation
Many groups within the National Wilderness Coalition advocate for legislation to designate new wilderness and/or provide additional protection to existing wilderness or wilderness-quality lands. Below, you'll find a list of wilderness-related legislation NWC members are advocating for during the 119th Congress. Inclusion on this page does not imply endorsement by the National Wilderness Coalition.
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Sponsor: Representative Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico
State(s) impacted by the bill: Utah
Bill summary: America's Red Rock Wilderness Act would protect over 8 million acres of federal public land as wilderness.
For more information, contact: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
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Sponsor: Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
State(s) impacted by the bill: Utah
Bill summary: America's Red Rock Wilderness Act would protect over 8 million acres of federal public land as wilderness.
For more information, contact: Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
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Sponsor: Representative Betty McCollum of Minnesota
State(s) impacted by the bill: Minnesota
Bill summary: To provide for the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal lands and waters, including Voyageurs National Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota, and for other purposes.
For more information, contact: Save the Boundary Waters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
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Sponsor: Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota
State(s) impacted by the bill: Minnesota
Bill summary: To protect, for current and future generations, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and interconnected Federal land and waters, including Voyageurs National Park, within the Rainy River Watershed in the State of Minnesota, and for other purposes.
For more information, contact: Save the Boundary Waters, Friends of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
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Sponsor: Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado
State(s) impacted by the bill: Colorado
Bill summary: To provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes.
For more information, contact: Wilderness Workshop
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Sponsor: Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado
State(s) impacted by the bill: Colorado
Bill summary: To provide for the designation of certain wilderness areas, recreation management areas, and conservation areas in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes.
For more information, contact: Wilderness Workshop
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Sponsor: Representative French Hill of Arkansas
State(s) impacted by the bill: Arkansas
Bill summary: To add ~2,200 acres to the existing Flatside Wilderness in Arkansas's Ouachita National Forest, and rename the are the Flatside-Bethune Woods Wilderness
For more information, contact: Southern Environmental Law Center
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Sponsor: Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon
State(s) impacted by the bill: Oregon
Bill summary: To designate 1.1 million acres of wilderness in Oregon's Owyhee Canyonlands and other purposes
For more information, contact: Oregon Natural Desert Association
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Sponsor: Representative Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania
State(s) impacted by the bill: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon
Bill summary: To designate 23 million acres of roadless lands as federal wilderness across the northern Rockies.
For more information, contact: Western Watersheds Project
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Sponsor: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
State(s) impacted by the bill: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon
Bill summary: To designate 23 million acres of roadless lands as federal wilderness across the northern Rockies.
For more information, contact: Western Watersheds Project
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Sponsor: Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon
State(s) impacted by the bill: Oregon
Bill summary: To designate certain land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service in the State of Oregon as wilderness and national recreation areas, to withdraw certain land located in Curry County and Josephine County, Oregon, from all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and operation under the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws, and for other purposes.
For more information, contact: Oregon Wild
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Sponsor: Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia
State(s) impacted by the bill: Virginia
Bill summary: To establish the Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area at ~90,000 acres, with embedded wilderness.
For more information, contact: Southern Environmental Law Center, Virginia Wilderness Committee
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Sponsor: Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner of Virginia
State(s) impacted by the bill: Virginia
Bill summary: To designate ~5,000 acres of wilderness additions to the Rough Mountain Wilderness and Rich Hole Wilderness of the George Washington National Forest.
For more information, contact: Southern Environmental Law Center, Virginia Wilderness Committee