Comments closed
Stop unreviewed burning and thinning in Black Hills National Forest
U.S. Forest Service · Black Hills National Forest, SD
- What
- The Forest Service plans to burn and thin trees near Hell Canyon without full public scrutiny.
- Where
- Black Hills National Forest, SD, WY
- How much
- Forest habitat and recreational areas in the Hell Canyon Ranger District face permanent alteration through prescribed burning and tree removal.
- Decided
- Comments closed; deadline not stated by the agency. No decision document is on file yet.
Where these four lines come from
- WhatOur plain-English read of the Forest Service project page ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words under Case.
- WhereThe places and states the project page names, as PLAN read them.
- How muchThe first sentence of our What’s at risk read of the notice; the whole read is under Case.
- DecidedWe haven’t found where this fight’s close date came from, so the card shows no date. The decision document is the one on file in PLAN’s record.
- Read from PLAN’s record November 9, 2026.
What the proposal said, and what the decision did
No figure from the proposal has been checked against the decision on this fight yet. What the record does hold is the issues ledger below.
No decision document is on PLAN’s record for this fight yet. When the agency’s decision lands, what it answered goes here.
Affects public lands
The Forest Service plans to burn and thin trees near Hell Canyon without full public scrutiny.
What’s at risk
If this goes through
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
In the agency’s own words
Collaborative prescribed burn with Mount Rushmore to promote forest health and improve wildfire resilience. Additionally, protect recreational residences through thinning activities.
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in South Dakota and Wyoming
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in South Dakota and Wyoming, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Badlands Natural History Association
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works South Dakota: They work only in South Dakota.
- Wind Cave National Park Friends Group
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works South Dakota: They work only in South Dakota.
- Wyoming Outdoor Council
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Red Desert (Wyoming BLM), Wyoming: Leading opposition to BLM's 2025 reopening of the just-finalized Rock Springs RMP, with program director Alec Underwood arguing the Golden Triangle and Big Sandy Foothills are too special to lease and develop.
- Wyoming Wilderness Association
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Red Desert (Wyoming BLM), Wyoming: Engaged in the Rock Springs RMP revision since 2011, submitting formal comments and coalition advocacy for roughly 1.6 million acres of ACEC protections across the Red Desert.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
Who signs it
The notice names no signer PLAN could read. PLAN names a decision-maker only when the document names one.
The ground
The window has closed, so there’s no watch to set on it here.
In court on this ground
No court case we track is over Black Hills National Forest and Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Who holds the vote
PLAN’s record doesn’t tie a member of Congress to this fight yet. The scorecard grades the votes and bills that decide public lands; nothing joins a vote or a bill to this decision, so there’s no member to name here without guessing.
See how your members vote ↗Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
Know an open comment period we are missing, or spotted a wrong deadline? .
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