Destructive wildfires are ravaging millions of acres of forests, shrubs and grasslands – all important wildlife habitat – in the summer of 2026. As of August 12, more than 46,000 individual fires charred nearly 6.5 million acres across the United States, the highest number of fires and largest to-date acreage total over the last decade.
Why so much fire? Key factors include drought and heavy fuel loads of dead and downed timber which supply the fuel for fires to spark and grow. Another contributing factor is a series of seemingly endless lawsuits filed by litigant environmental organizations that greatly delay or stop much-needed forest thinning, selective logging, prescribed fire and other active forest management treatments designed to mitigate wildfires, improve public safety and enhance wildlife habitat.
“Just to put the litigation issue in perspective, we currently have about 300 million board feet right now currently enjoined. About 90 percent of that's in Region One. Overall, we have about 1.3 billion board feet that is subject to some form of litigation,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief, while recently recently testifying before the House Committee on Agriculture.
Schultz also pointed out that most people may think California would be highly litigious but said the state encourages on-the-ground forest management. Instead, environmental groups focus on Region One, which includes Montana, northern Idaho, North Dakota and parts of South Dakota.
Those groups take advantage of the 2015 Cottonwood Environmental Law Center v U.S. Forest Service decision in the 9th Circuit Court that created a never-ending loop where lawyers can slow down or stop projects by requiring additional re-consultations despite having already completed Endangered Species Act consultation. The court ordered that each time there is a shred of new information, much of which is redundant or irrelevant, the land agencies need to go through the process again. Reconsultation almost never results in changes to proposed habitat and fire management projects, but the point of the suits appears to be to delay projects and drive up costs.
Over the last decade, both the Obama and Trump administrations tried but failed to overturn it. Many Democrats and Republicans, as well as groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Hunt 2 Conserve, support a Cottonwood fix.
“We definitely support the fix,” said Schultz. “We do think that is something that is needed.”
Cottonwood fix language is currently found in the Farm Bill and in the Fix Our Forests Act, which the House passed on a strong 279-141 bipartisan vote in January 2025. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry passed it in 2026 on a bipartisan 18-5 vote but the full Senate is yet to introduce it on the floor.
For the sake of public safety, wildlife and mitigating wildfires, Hunt 2 Conserve strongly urges the Senate to take up and approve the measure.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
(Photo credit: Inciweb)
