The Wild Line: DOGE Cuts Exacerbate Wildfire, Interior Cancels Endangered Species Protections, and Alaska Judge Dismisses Dalton Highway Suit

The Wild Idea · Jul 31, 2026 · 9m · transcript

This week, a Senate committee drops most of its wilderness, national park, and wild and scenic river bills in favor of energy permitting measures, a federal judge in Anchorage clears the way for transferring more than 2 million acres along the Dalton Highway corridor to the State of Alaska, while the Interior Department cancels the Endangered Species Act's blanket 4(d) rule and NOAA rejects a bid to expand North Atlantic right whale critical habitat. We also cover new reporting linking paused DOGE wildfire-prevention funding to the fires burning across northern Minnesota, the removal of…