Objection window · closes December 7
Okanogan-Wenatchee nears decision on domestic sheep grazing near bighorn range
U.S. Forest Service · Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, WA
- What
- Nine grazing allotments on the Okanogan-Wenatchee could be managed in ways that affect bighorn sheep survival.
- Where
- Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, WA
- How much
- Only people and organizations that submitted written comments during the earlier public participation window are eligible to file an objection now.
- By when
- Objections to U.S. Forest Service by December 7, 2026; only people who commented earlier may file one.Date from Forest Service CARA comment page ↗, read October 23, 2026.
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.
- By whenDecember 7, 2026, from Forest Service CARA comment page, the notice text ↗: “requested through 12/7/2026 11:59:59 PM (Pacific Standard Time)”. Read October 23, 2026. 36 CFR 218.6(c) runs an objection clock from the legal notice in the newspaper of record, so take the date from that notice.
- Read from PLAN’s record October 23, 2026.
This is not a comment period
The comment round on this one is over
What is open now is a pre-decisional objection period. Only individuals and entities that already submitted timely, specific written comments during an earlier public comment opportunity on this project may file an objection (36 CFR 218.5(a)). If you commented, this is your round. If you did not, no filing you send here will be accepted, and the honest thing for us to say is that this door is closed to you rather than to hand you a form.
An organization’s comments count for the organization only. Being a member of a group that commented does not make you eligible; you had to comment in your own name (36 CFR 218.5(c)).
Do not file on our date. Get it from the notice. The objection clock runs from the day the legal notice was published in the forest’s newspaper of record, and that publication date is the exclusive means of calculating it. Objectors may not rely on a date from any other source (36 CFR 218.6(c)). The agency has to post that notice on the web within four days of publishing it (36 CFR 218.7(d)), so it is on the project page.
For what it is worth, the Forest Service comment portal listed December 7, 2026 for this project when we read it. That is the portal’s own field, not the legal notice, and we have not reconciled the two. We would rather show you where it came from than let it stand in for the law.
The comment round on this one is closed and only people who commented then can object now. What everyone can still do is call the members who answer to them and put the signature on the record.
3 holes in the agency’s own analysis
Make these points, in your own words
- The Forest Service must ensure that the proposed amendments to the Land and Resource Management Plans for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest genuinely protect bighorn sheep viability, not just minimize grazing restrictions.
- Domestic sheep and goat grazing across nine allotments within bighorn sheep range poses a direct threat to bighorn sheep, and the Environmental Impact Statement must fully account for that risk.
- I oppose any Forest Plan Amendment that fails to prioritize bighorn sheep viability over continued domestic sheep and goat grazing in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
PLAN's read: high threat
Nine grazing allotments on the Okanogan-Wenatchee could be managed in ways that affect bighorn sheep survival.
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
Proposal to amend Land and Resource Management Plans to provide forest plan direction for managing domestic sheep and goat grazing within the range of Bighorn sheep to better provide for bighorn sheep viability in the context of range management. PALS #53257. Documents coming soon!
The groups on this fight
4 groups predicted likely to care in Washington
Predicted likely to care is a guess from the group's sourced work in Washington, with no link to this decision. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Cascade Forest Conservancy
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Washington: They work only in Washington.
- Conservation Northwest
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Hanford Reach National Monument, Washington: Submitted formal comments defending Hanford Reach National Monument during the 2017 federal monument review and publicly opposed any boundary adjustment or rescindment.
- Friends of the San Juans
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Washington: They work only in Washington.
- Olympic Park Advocates
Predicted likely to care · a guess
Works Washington: They work only in Washington.
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
This fight isn’t bound to a map place in PLAN’s record yet. The notice names Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (WA); none is a unit on the threatened lands map, so there’s no place page to open or watch.
The photograph on this page: Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington. More Than Just Parks.
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 ↗Calling your two senators and your representative is the Call door on this page.
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? .
More fights that need you
Go deeper, free
See how your members of Congress vote on public lands
Every representative, graded on the votes that decide the fate of parks, forests, and refuges.
Open ↗The mapSee the places under active threat
A live map of the parks, monuments, and wild country in the crosshairs right now.
Open ↗A wrong fact, a dead link, a form that wouldn’t take your letter: one tap and it comes to the people who build PLAN, with this fight attached.