Photo Credit: USDA
Protect public lands – connect vast landscapes where wildlife can roam
Public Lands
Our greatest conservation opportunity is protecting and connecting the West’s vast landscapes where majestic wildlife can roam—from the largest grizzly to the smallest meadow jumping mouse; where birds can soar and sage grouse can strut; where fish thrive in water that is pure and clean; and where people experience the primal power of the wild.
Yet the federal government and corporate interests have other ideas, and are bent on destroying public lands, waters, and wildlife with increased logging, mining, livestock grazing, oil and gas development, motorized use, and even more roads.
Guardians combats this culture of extraction with connection, protection, and healing, deploying strategies from education and restoration to advocacy and litigation to preserve and restore America’s wild places, wild rivers, and wildlife. We think and act at the local, regional, and West-wide levels: from the unparalleled biodiversity of the Greater Gila in New Mexico to the majesty of Glacier National Park, from the mountain sources of rushing rivers along their flow through the Pacific Northwest, we strive for vast, interconnected landscapes teeming with the diversity of life.
The Status of the Grizzly Bear: Has it Really Recovered?
Five leading experts present their findings.
Public Lands Program Work
WildEarth Guardians plants native vegetation along riversides once scarred by livestock grazing, protects wild landscapes from disruptive and damaging motorized off-road vehicles, and much more.
Public Lands in Public Hands
Protecting public lands from agencies, Congress, modern-day robber barons, and everyone else who seeks to privatize them
Rewild Lands and Waters
Removing unneeded roads from public lands, maintaining roads that are still needed, and restoring passage for fish when roads block their spawning grounds
Grazing Permit Retirement
A proven strategy to equitably resolve conflicts between historic uses and modern ecological realities
Moderating Motorized Use
Keeping off-road vehicles and snowmobiles off of fragile landscapes to protect wildlife and water quality
The Greater Gila
Safeguarding the diversity and dynamism of the Greater Gila Bioregion, including working with ranchers to retire grazing allotments and return Mexican wolves to their ancestral homeland
Recent Stories From Public Lands

The importance of mature and old-growth forests
WildEarth Guardians’ Dr. Lisa Markovchick explains why mature and old-growth forests and trees on federal public lands need protection
Public Lands Press
Federal judge finds BLM imperiled sage grouse and broke environmental laws in approving Idaho phosphate mine
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho determined the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy Management Act
Read more >The Greater Gila Teaches us That Worlds are Sometimes Forged in Flame
There is a collection of poetry by Indonesian American poet Cynthia Dewi Oka titled Fire is Not a Country. I stumble across it while searching for poems about fire.
Read more >Forest Service agrees to begin winter travel planning on Rio Grande
The parties in a lawsuit over the lack of winter recreation management planning in the Rio Grande National Forest have reached a partial settlement, under which the Forest Service has agreed to initiate the preliminary planning steps by the end of April 2024.
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