DESCRIPTION: Comments on the review of the Department of the Interior’s existing wilderness stewardship policies
TO: Interior Secretary Burgum, BLM Director Pearce, NPS Comptroller Ms. Bowron, and FWS Director Nesvik
FROM: Melissa Amarello, Executive Director, Advocates for Snake Preservation; Maddie Halloran, State Director, Alaska Wilderness League; Daniel Shaffer, Executive Director, Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA); Mason Voehl, Executive Director, Amargosa Conservancy; Steve Nash, President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest; Regional Carrillo, CEO, AZ(LAND) Fund; Randy Rasmussen, Director, Public Lands & Recreation, Back Country Horsemen of America; Kevin Emmerich, Co-founder, Basin and Range Watch; Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows, President & Co-Founder, CactusToCloud Institute; Aaron McCall, Federal Advocacy Coordinator, California Environmental Voters; Michael J. Painter, Coordinator, Californians for Western Wilderness; Linda Castro, Assistant Policy Director, CalWild; Will Harlan, Southeast Director, Center for Biological Diversity; Nick Maya, Program Manager, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection; Emily Thompson, Executive Director, Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks; Simone Adams, Founding Executive Director, Color My Outdoors; Jose Manzo, Conservation Program Lead, Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas (COFEM); Luke Schafer, West Slope Director, Conservation Colorado; Kara Matsumoto, Senior Policy Director, Conservation Lands Foundation; Brendan Botosan, Public Lands Program Manager, Conserve Southwest Utah; Claire Cutler, Trail Policy Specialist, Continental Divide Trail Coalition; Evans Primus, Jr, Founder, Cultivating Lives Educational Services, Inc; Lucia Ibarra, Conservation Director, Dogwood Alliance; Rica Fulton, Advocacy and Stewardship Director, Dolores River Boating Advocates; Aaron Mintzes, Deputy Policy Director, Earthworks; Jane Pargiter, Executive Director, EcoFlight; Tara Thornton, Director of Institutional Engagement, Endangered Species Coalition; Ann Mesnikoff, Federal Legislative Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center; Kimberly Baker, Conservation Director, Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC); Kevin Wong, Executive Director, Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve; Michael Kunkel, President, Friends of Browns Canyon; Daniel Collay, Executive Director, Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; Terri Rylander, Board Secretary, Friends of Gold Butte; Christine Flanagan, President, Friends of Ironwood Forest National Monument; Karen Boeger, Board Member, Friends of Nevada Wilderness; Kathleen Chasey, Vice President, Friends of Point Arena Stornetta; Nick Streit, Executive Director, Friends of Rio Grande del Norte; Cameron Mayer, Executive Director, Friends of the Amargosa Basin; Betsy Foy, Government Relations Associate, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness; Suzi Given, Founding Board Member, Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument; Tammy Martin, Executive Director, Friends of the Desert Mountains; Allison Weber, Policy Director, Friends of the Inyo; Justin Crellin, Executive Director, Friends of the Lost Coast; Kyla Navarro, Policy and Community Coordinator, Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks; Tim Dacis, Executive Director, Friends of the Owyhee; Lindsey Marlow, Executive Director, Friends of the Yampa; Allyson Siwik, Executive Director, Gila Resources Information Project; Peter Metcalf, Executive Director, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance; Chaitna Sinha, Conservation Co-director/Staff Attorney, Grand Canyon Trust; Dr. Jackie Grant, Executive Director, Grand Staircase Escalante Partners; Reba Elliott, Executive Director, Great Old Broads for Wilderness; Jamie Dawson, Conservation Director, Greater Hells Canyon Council; Kathy Rinaldi, Director of Conservation, Greater Yellowstone Coalition; Olivia Juarez, Public Land Program Director, GreenLatinos; Patrice Mutchnick, Board Chair, Heart of the Gila; John Robison, Public Lands and Wildlife Director, Idaho Conservation League; Bob Krumenaker, Chair, Keep Big Bend Wild; Timothy Coleman, Executive Director, Kettle Range Conservation Group; Justin Crellin, Coordinator, King Range Alliance; Michael Dotson, Executive Director, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center; Jazzari Taylor, Policy Advocate, Latino Outdoors; Francesca Governali, Senior Government Affairs Advocate, League of Conservation Voters; Carla Mena, Director of Policy & Legislative Affairs, Los Padres ForestWatch; Richard Sykes, Executive Director, Mattole Salmon Group; John Siekmeier, Past President, Minnesota Division Izaak Walton League of America; Frank Szollosi, Executive Director, Montana Wildlife Federation; Jim Pattiz, Co-Founder, More Than Just Parks; Keagan Zoellner, Montana State Director, Mountain Mamas; Elizabeth Shoemaker, Executive Director, MTN BIO; Beau Kiklis, Associate Director, Landscape and Energy Policy, National Parks Conservation Association; Robert T. Przeklasa, Executive Director, Native American Land Conservancy; Keegan King, Executive Director, Native Land Institute; Bobby McEnaney, Director, Land Conservation, Natural Resources Defense Council; Belen Bernal, Executive Director, Nature for All; Chris Halpin, Member, Nevada Climate Team; Bjorn Fredrickson, Conservation Director, New Mexico Wild; Jesse Deubel, Executive Director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation; Karyn Bigelow, Director of Programs & Advocacy, Next 100 Coalition; Suzanne Hildner, MD, FACP, Secretary, North Fork Preservation Association; Àngel Peña, Executive Director, Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project; Ryan Houston, Executive Director, Oregon Natural Desert Association; John Persell, Senior Staff Attorney, Oregon Wild; Chandra Rosenthal, Western Lands & Rocky Mountain Advocate, PEER; Mandi Campbell, PINC Coordinator, PINC; Sherri Grotheer, President, Board of Directors, Protectors of Tule Springs; Alison Gallensky, Conservation Geographer, Leadership Team, Rocky Mountain Wild; Ryan Huggins, Executive Director, San Juan Citizens Alliance; Christine Canaly, Director, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council; Anna Rogers, Education, Administrative and Development Director, Sanctuary Forest; Jack Stauss, Executive Director, Save Our Canyons; Maia Black, Director, Selberg Institute; Ruthie Boyd, Executive Director, Sheep Mountain Alliance; Athan Manuel, Director, Lands Protection Program, Sierra Club; Dave Willis, Chair, Soda Mountain Wilderness Council; Travis Hammill, DC Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; Zack Porter, Executive Director, Standing Trees; Steven Jakubowics, Chair, The Committee for Idaho’s High Desert; Andy Blair, Director of Public Policy, The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS); Bill Mott, Executive Director, The Ocean Project; Rachel Kondor, Sr. Planning Manager and Staff Attorney, The Wilderness Society; Sue Harker, Ms., Tuleyome; Carol Ann Fugagli, Executive Director, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance; Carol Olson, Executive Director, Ventana Wilderness Alliance; Ellen Stuart-Haentjens, Executive Director, Virginia Wilderness Committee; Chris Chappell, Brewshed Director, Washington Wild; Melissa Newell, Advocacy Coordinator, Western Slope Conservation Center; Kirk Robinson, Executive Director, Western Wildlife Conservancy; John Sztukowski, Executive Director, Wild Connections; Jessica Howell-Edwards, Executive Director, Wild Cumberland; Dave Willis, Coordinator, Wild Hope; Hilary Eisen, Federal Policy Director, Wild Montana; Keeley Meehan, Wildlands Attorney, Wilderness Workshop; Anneka Williams, Policy Director, Winter Wildlands Alliance; Gabrielle Yates, Public Lands Program Manager, Wyoming Outdoor Council; Jennifer Mans, BLM Wildlands Director, Wyoming Wilderness Association
DATE: August 14, 2026
TAGS: DOI, BLM, NPS, FWS, public lands
