3 groups have it in their care
National forest in Missouri, 1.5M acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1939.
The defenders
3 groups are on the record for Mark Twain, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
On the ground
Advocacy · Oakland, CA
Its Missouri Chapter joined Heartwood and the Missouri Forest Alliance in an October 2024 formal objection to the revised forest plan over removed roadless areas, lead mining, and subsidized commercial logging.
10,895 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1892
Also in the fight
Legal · Charlottesville, VA
Its February 2024 timber targets lawsuit charges the Forest Service with ignoring the cumulative climate impacts of logging projects including one on the Mark Twain National Forest.
267 staff + 43 volunteers83¢ to the workFounded 1986
Land Trust · Arlington, VA
Has conveyed more than 2,000 acres into the forest, including Current River frontage in 2016 and 229 acres at Piney Creek Wilderness in 2018.
243 staff + 21 volunteers95¢ to the workFounded 1985
The situation
The Ozarks’ last big public forest. 1.5 million acres of springs, caves, and hardwood ridges in a state where public land is scarce and every acre matters. Lead mining has scarred this landscape for a century, and new extraction proposals and aggressive timber targets threaten the streams communities depend on for clean water. Now the Forest Service wants to hand 2,616 acres of it to Doe Run, the lead mining company, and take about 354 acres of Doe Run land in return. Seven acres of public forest out for every one acre in. The decision is close and the only step left is an objection period open to people who already commented.
Source: USDA Forest Service · July 29, 2026
Source: KSDK
Source: BLM
No public comment window is open on Mark Twain right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
Your move
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Mark Twain, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Mark Twain: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
3 groups on the record, Sierra Club with 10,895 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.
