Public access protected as the Weminuche Wilderness grows

September 19, 2025-

Earlier this summer the Trust transferred our 30-acre Needle Creek property, adding it to the Weminuche Wilderness. Last week we built off that momentum, transferring our 31-acre Great Western Lode properties to also be added to the Weminuche, once again growing Colorado’s largest wilderness area.

The Great Western Lode project is made up of three properties totaling 31 acres. Located about five miles north of the Needle Creek project, they protect fragile alpine tundra habitat. Like the Needle Creek project, the addition of Great Western Lode to the wilderness area secures public access on a popular trail. The 9.3-mile Whitehead Trail runs through two of the project’s three properties, and connects the Continental Divide Trail to the Highland Mary Trail and Deer Park Trails, which are easily accessible from the town of Silverton, Colorado, a year-round recreation destination.

All but 6 acres of Great Western Lode will be added to designated wilderness, enjoying the highest level of protection available to public lands that can only be altered by an act of Congress, not executive orders or other administration directives. The remaining 6 acres, which extends outside of the established wilderness boundary, will be added to San Juan National Forest to be managed as wilderness.

With the transfer of Great Western Lode, the Trust has protected a total of 15 properties covering over 265 acres in the Weminuche Wilderness.

Protecting bat habitat in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

September 5, 2025-

Given that many of the private wilderness inholdings that we work to protect are old mining claims, it’s not uncommon to find open mine shafts or adits, the horizontal passages used to access underground mines, on them. When we do, it is important to close them off before the property becomes public lands to ensure public safety. Our staff recently visited our Annie Creek project in Idaho’s Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, which we acquired in last year in partnership with the Payette Land Trust, to close two open adits on the property. But how that’s done has a big impact on one of wilderness’s little thought of, but most important species: bats.

There are at least 13 species of bats in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. A single little brown bat, one of the most common species found there, can consume over 1,200 mosquito-sized insects in just one hour. If you’ve ever tried to put up a tent or cook your dinner while camping in the thick of mosquito season, that alone may be enough to convince you of the importance of bats in the wilderness. But bats are also critical for healthy forests, protecting young trees from insect damage. Researchers have found that forest where bats are present have three times less insects and five times less defoliation of young trees than forests without bats. When young saplings are defoliated, having their leaves eaten by insects, they are more vulnerable to stressors like drought and fungal diseases. Beyond playing an important pest control role in forests, bats eat enough pests so save more than $3 billion a year in crop damage and pesticide costs across US agricultural production. Bats are also important pollinators. But due to disease and habitat loss, bat populations are in decline across the country.

While many species of bats actually roost in trees, habitat like caves and abandoned mines are important for reproduction and raising their young. So when it comes to closing off mine adits on the Trust’s properties, we make sure that they are still accessible to bats. Sometimes, when the property is easily accessible, that means installing steel bars or grates across the opening. In Colorado, the Division of Reclamation, Mining, & Safety has a program to help install these grates, but no such program exists in Idaho. In the case of Annie Creek, where steel grates would be too heavy to hike in, we had custom cable nets fabricated to stretch across the roughly 5×7’ opening and bolt into the rocks surrounding them. Quarter inch cables are used to create a six-inch square mesh, ensuring bats can easily fly through them.

Our staff were joined by two of our local USFS partners, and we were able to hike in all the materials and install both nets in just one day, instead of the two we had anticipated it would take. This kind of stewardship and restoration is an important part of our work, both to ensure that properties are cared for after we acquire them, and to return them to their wilderness character and mitigate any safety hazards before they become wilderness and public lands.

 

Catching up with an old friend: Lundy Canyon

August 22, 2025-

 

This summer, while working on projects in the nearby Bodie Hills, our staff had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend, our Lundy Canyon project, to see what successful protection of this once-vulnerable property looks like three years after it transferred to public ownership.

Today nothing separates the property from the surrounding Hoover wilderness. But that wasn’t always a given: a private buyer who wanted to put a permanent houseboat development on the small alpine lake was under contract to buy the property. That’s when The Wilderness Land Trust, with the help of our partners at the Mono Lake Committee and Eastern Sierra Land Trust, stepped in to purchase the property and eventually transfer it to public ownership.

Check out this short video to learn more about the project and see the lasting impact of your support.

 

Public Access to Achenbach Canyon Protected

August 8, 2025-

In southern New Mexico, the Organ Mountains Wilderness covers just shy of 20,000 acres of varied habitat, from the lower elevation Chihuahuan Desert to the rugged Organ Mountains, named for their rock spires resembling organ pipes. Located just miles from Las Cruces, New Mexico’s second largest city, the wilderness area and surrounding Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument provide varied recreation opportunities along with diverse wildlife habitat.

In 2021 The Wilderness Land Trust purchased 111 acres of private property adjoining the wilderness area at the mouth of Achenbach Canyon. The project protects public access to the popular 5.5-mile trail that follows the canyon up the flanks of the peaks above, connecting it to the Sierra Vista Trailhead. Working with our partners at the Bureau of Land Management, we recently completed the transfer of the property to public ownership through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

LWCF uses revenue from offshore oil and gas leases to fund conservation and recreation projects across the country, from acquiring properties in and around wilderness areas, like the Achenbach Canyon project, to building parks and playgrounds.

Senator Heinrich (NM), who visited the Achenbach Canyon property with the Trust and our partners after it was acquired in 2021, celebrates the project for improving public access: “Five years ago, we passed the Great American Outdoors Act and permanently funded the LWCF. Today, we’re seeing the results: the Achenbach Canyon property is now public land—thanks to LWCF Recreation Access funds. Improving access to OUR public lands is exactly why we fought for it. I’m grateful to the Wilderness Land Trust and Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks for their partnership and hard work in expanding New Mexicans’ access to public lands with this win.”

Satellite images from February 1996 and June 2025 showing development surrounding the Achenbach Canyon project (outlined in red). Images from Google Earth.

Over the last 30 years Las Cruces has doubled in population, and the area surrounding the Achenbach Canyon project has infilled with residential development. Protecting the property as public lands will ensure that public access is preserved and corridors of connected habitat are maintained for wildlife migration between the wilderness area and national monument.

Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks was an invaluable partner in making the Achenbach Canyon project a success: “Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks are elated to hear that Achenbach Canyon will now be in public hands. Access to this stunning area of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument has been a top priority for the organization. We wish to thank the Wilderness Land Trust and the BLM Las Cruces office for their commitment to this project and hard work to get this done. This project is a great example as to why the Land and Water Conservation Fund is such a vital tool for communities working to promote access to public lands. Achenbach is a jewel of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks and this will ensure access for generations to come” says Patrick Nolan, Executive Director.

Representative Vasquez (NM) voices his support of the project, emphasizing the role of the local community: “This acquisition of the Achenbach Canyon Trail in Las Cruces is a significant win for all of us who cherish the Organ Mountains and the beautiful landscape that is right in our backyard. The transfer of this 111 acres opens up public access to one of the best recreation opportunities in our national monument. This was driven by the local community and groups like the Friends of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks, and it is exactly the kind of progress I’ve been advocating for as a leader of the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus in Congress.”

Senator Luján (NM) also praises the project for benefiting local outdoor recreation and the tourism economy: “In the face of today’s unprecedented attacks on our public lands, it’s great to see public access to Achenbach Canyon protected.  Ensuring that our growing Las Cruces community has access to this special place is a win-win for outdoor recreation and our tourism economy.  Thank you to The Wilderness Land Trust, the Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks, and all who have supported the Land and Water Conservation Fund to make public protections like these a reality.”

Achenbach Canyon is the 26th property protected by The Wilderness Land Trust in New Mexico, totaling 4,900 acres.  The Trust also acquired another 98-acre property located north of Achenbach Canyon in 2020, which we are still working to transfer to public ownership.

Washington’s Wild Sky Wilderness grows with transfer of 15 properties

July 25, 2025-

About an hour east of Seattle, the Wild Sky Wilderness spans over 100,000 acres of roaring streams and high peaks. In addition to the ecological importance of it’s temperate rainforests, salmon spawning grounds and alpine habitat, the Wild Sky Wilderness provides close-to-home recreation opportunities for Seattle’s 4 million residents.

The Trust recently completed the transfer of a package of 15 properties totaling 655 acres to public ownership. Located in and near the Silver Creek drainage, we acquired these properties between 2019 and 2024, and have diligently been working with our agency partners to transfer them since. Because the properties are concentrated in one area, we were able to bundle them together into one package, and navigate the transfer process more efficiently. We are working to replicate this strategy in other wilderness areas as well.

Of properties, 540 acres will become designated wilderness and enjoy the strongest protections available for public lands in the US. The other 115 acres will be added to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest with the possibility of becoming designated wilderness in the future, thanks to the provisions of the 2008 Wild Sky Wilderness Act which created the wilderness area.

This transfer represents a major milestone in our work in the North Cascades ecosystem, and years of hard work by our lands staff and partners. With it we have helped to consolidate protection in the patchwork of ownership through this part of the wilderness area. But the threat still remains: about 1/4 of Washington’s remaining wilderness inholdings are in the Wild Sky Wilderness, and another 1/2 are in the adjacent Henry M Jackson Wilderness. Thanks to donors like you, we will continue working with willing landowners to acquire and protect these remaining vulnerable lands.

We’re hiring!

July 11, 2025-

After nine years at the helm, Brad Borst will be leaving the Trust later this year. So we have begun the search for our next Executive Director.

The ideal candidate will join a mission-driven organization with deep roots and proven impact, leading strategic initiatives that balance conservation urgency with practical partnership development. The role demands someone who combines a deep passion for wilderness protection with strong nonprofit leadership experience, fundraising, and financial acumen, as well as the vision to broaden the Trust’s appeal while working hands-on with a high-performing team dedicated to securing the highest level of protection available for America’s public lands.

Please help us spread the news by sharing with friends and colleagues in the conservation world.

Learn more here.

Join us in welcoming Tim Northrop to our board of directors!

July 11, 2025-

Tim is the Senior Director of Development at the California Polytechnic State University’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. He is an experienced leader in nonprofit and higher education fundraising, land conservation, project management, and creating strategic initiatives and programs that have high impact. As the Connecticut State Director for the Trust for Public Land, Tim partnered with federal, state, and local governments and land trusts to conserve open space and working lands and create new parks.

Tim earned his bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment where he researched transboundary peace parks. He was also a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs, and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

“I am excited to join TWLT’s board of directors to help ensure that present and future generations can connect with nature in real and meaningful ways and lead us to become better stewards of the planet” says Tim.

In addition to serving on the WLT board, he is a board member of the Environmental Leadership Program which supports emerging environmental leaders. Tim is an avid hiker, cyclist, and runner. When he’s not raising money for natural resources management and environmental science, you’ll find him on a trail or gravel road in the hills of San Luis Obispo.

Public access protected as the Weminuche Wilderness grows

June 25, 2025-

Earlier this year we shared the news that we had acquired a 30-acre private inholding in the Weminuche Wilderness of southern Colorado. Now we are thrilled to announce that the property has been transferred to public ownership to be protected as designated wilderness.

Running through the property are both Needle Creek and the Needle Creek Trail, which is used by hikers and climbers to access the very popular Chicago Basin and its surrounding 14,000+ peaks. With flat, buildable stream-side sites, the property was previously at risk of development. Now protected, public access on the trail to Chicago Basin has been ensured for future generations to enjoy. Needle Creek is an important tributary to the Animas River. This water source, along with vibrant aspen groves that stretch from the creek up the slopes of the Needle Mountains, create habitat for a wide range of wildlife. The Needle Creek property scores high for climate change resilience, biodiversity, and landscape connectivity, all important conservation values that will be protected as wilderness.

At just shy of half a million acres, the Weminuche Wilderness is the largest in Colorado. Spanning the continental divide, with an average elevation of over 10,000 feet, its rugged terrain provides important alpine habitat. Needle Creek is the 15th property protected by the Trust in the wilderness area, and builds off the success of the nearby 7-acre Emerald Lake property that the Trust acquired in 2018 and transferred to be added to the wilderness area in 2023.

While the property is now protected as wilderness, we will continue working with the USFS to complete some remaining restoration work this summer, removing the remnants of a hunting camp left by a previous owner. We are encouraged to see transfers of property like Needle Creek still moving forward under the new administration, and are grateful for our wonderful partners at the San Juan National Forest and Region 2 USFS office for working so diligently to move this project through the transfer process.

Protecting the Land and Water Conservation Fund

June 13, 2025-

During his first term, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors and Dingell Acts into law, permanently authorizing and funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) with broad bipartisan support. Since LWCF was first established in 1964— the same year the Wilderness Act was passed— it has used revenue from offshore oil and gas leases to fund conservation and recreation projects across the country, everything from expanding wilderness areas to building parks and playgrounds enjoyed by our communities. LWCF is critical to our work at the Trust, funding the majority of our transfers of properties to public ownership. 

Despite benefitting diverse communities in every state, for over 50 years LWCF wasn’t secure. The Great American Outdoors and Dingell Acts changed that, clearly establishing what LWCF could fund, defining how its $900 million would be allocated across its different programs each year, and removing the burdensome step of Congress having to reauthorize the funds every few years. To many, signing them into law was the shining conservation achievement of President Trump’s first term.

Given that history, when President Trump recently released his budget request to Congress, many were surprised to see it propose diverting over 40% of annual LWCF funds away from their intended use and programs to pay for deferred maintenance on public lands, virtually eliminating LWCF’s conservation acquisition program. As this would violate the laws governing LWCF, the administration has also asked for legislative changes to allow the fund to be used for different purposes, effectively weakening the strong protections for it put in place just five years ago. Adequately funding the management and maintenance of our public lands is critical, and the Great American Outdoors Act also created the Legacy Restoration Fund, which provides up to $1.9 billion each year, also from oil and gas leases, specifically to do just that. Authorization for the Legacy Restoration Fund runs out this year, but legislation has already been introduced to extend it. While both conservation acquisitions and maintenance are important on our public lands, there is no reason for them to be pitted against each other when separate funding sources exist for both. 

It’s no coincidence that the Wilderness Act and LWCF passed the same year— they work hand in hand. While the Wilderness Act laid out a pathway for private inholdings to be added to the wilderness surrounding them, LWCF was created to include a specific account for acquiring these critical wilderness inholdings. To weaken LWCF is to weaken our ability to carry out the vision of the Wilderness Act. While we’re not an advocacy organization, it is important for us to address how our work, and the places we work to protect, would be impacted by political actions: The proposed changes to LWCF funding would have a profoundly negative impact on our mission.

It is now up to Congress to decide whether or not to include these changes in their appropriations process. We have joined other conservation organizations in educating our senators and representatives about the importance of protecting LWCF for our public lands. In the meantime, with your support, we will continue to acquire properties in and around wilderness areas across the country, and will patiently hold them until they can safely be protected as public lands.

Learn more about LWCF and the coalition working to protect it here!

Join us in welcoming Stu Smith to our board of directors!

May 31, 2025-

Join us in welcoming Stu Smith to our board of directors! You may recognize Stu as the retired GIS professional who has volunteered his time over the past few years to help create our first of its kind GIS-based inventory of private wilderness inholdings and edgeholdings. Stu has not only brought his professional expertise to implementing the project, his vision and discerning eye has helped shape how we integrate it into our work to protect the wilderness you love. We look forward to the knowledge and experience that Stu will bring to our board of directors from his unique and diverse background.

Born and raised in a small Oregon logging town, the outdoors have always been a part of Stu’s life. His first Wilderness experience was on a backpacking trip as a 12 year-old Boy Scout in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness. Since then, travels through many other Wilderness Areas have helped form his understanding of the intricate perfection found in the wild.

Eight seasons in a variety of wildland fire-fighting positions allowed him to experience everything from harrowing lightning storms on a mountaintop fire lookout tower, to stepping out of a perfectly good airplane as a Forest Service smokejumper.

Following a Doctorate in plant ecology, he began his GIS career with the U.S. Geological Survey, which subsequently led to managing a GIS program for 12 years with Washington State’s Department of Natural Resources. He then spent the following 16 summers as a bush pilot, flying float planes in Washington State and Alaska. The interspersed winters were busy with GIS projects as an independent consultant.

For the last six years, he’s lived in the mountains above Wenatchee, Washington, spending time skiing, mountain biking, and enjoying craft beers with friends. He remains busy doing volunteer GIS work with a variety of non-profits, from Alaska to Rwanda. He adheres to the notion that “data is knowledge and knowledge is power”, wherein mapping technology can be used to help preserve the sublimity of an untrammeled nature.

Welcome Stu!