BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
BANFF Tickets on Sale Now
Our national forests should be safe spaces for relaxation and recreation, not zones of fear and enforcement.
In response to a deeply troubling joint operation between the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Wilson Creek on July 26, MountainTrue and the Center for Biological Diversity have issued a formal letter of strong opposition to USFS leadership.
Reportedly instigated by the Forest Service, this operation trapped families enjoying a summer weekend by blocking the only road in and out of the recreation area, ultimately resulting in 13 arrests. We firmly believe that taxpayer-funded USFS personnel should be dedicated to protecting our forests and ensuring visitor safety, not facilitating immigration checkpoints. This mission drift contradicts the agency’s own commitments to equity, threatens basic civil liberties, and damages Western North Carolina’s vital outdoor recreation economy.
Alongside our partners, we are demanding transparency, accountability, and a public meeting to address how the agency plans to uphold its mandate to keep our public lands accessible to everyone.
Read our full letter to U.S. Forest Service leadership below:
August 17, 2026Tracy Perry
Director of Law Enforcement and Investigations
U.S. Forest ServiceJames Melonas
Forest Supervisor
National Forests in North Carolina
U.S. Forest ServiceNicholas Larson
District Ranger
Grandfather Ranger District
Pisgah National ForestSubject: Opposition to the Joint ICE and USFS Operation at Wilson Creek
Dear Director Perry, Forest Supervisor Melonas, and District Ranger Larson,
On behalf of MountainTrue and the Center for Biological Diversity, we are writing to express our strong opposition to the joint operation conducted by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sunday, July 26, 2026, at the Wilson Creek Wild & Scenic River.
As organizations committed to ensuring that public lands remain accessible to all, we are deeply concerned by the events of that weekend. Families who were grilling and enjoying the water found themselves trapped as law enforcement set up a checkpoint blocking the only road in and out of the recreation area. Ultimately, 13 individuals were reportedly arrested during this sweep.
We are highly concerned about the mission drift and misallocation of Forest Service resources. Taxpayer-funded USFS personnel should be focused on their core duties: keeping our forests healthy, maintaining trails, and ensuring the safety of visitors. Redirecting these resources to facilitate immigration checkpoints discourages outdoor recreation, strays far from the agency’s mandate, and raises serious concerns about government overreach, individual liberty, and the violation of basic constitutional rights.
Most concerning is that, according to recent reporting, this operation originated from a direct Forest Service request to ICE. Immigration enforcement is squarely outside the agency’s statutory jurisdiction, and such operations directly undermine its mandate to promote public access.
In the most recent forest plan, the National Forests of North Carolina made an explicit promise to serve the public and promote recreation across the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests. Indeed, in the Forest Service’s own press release announcing the release of the plan, the agency committed to welcoming “new voices and diverse perspectives to create an environment where everyone is welcome, valued, and treated equitably.”
That this operation was instigated by U.S. Forest Service personnel is especially troubling since it has been well-documented by government watchdogs and civil liberties advocates that these broad enforcement efforts have gone well beyond their stated goals — including the wrongful detention of legal residents and U.S. citizens. Turning our public recreation areas into enforcement zones transforms spaces meant for freedom and relaxation into places of fear and restricted movement.
Furthermore, these operations carry a steep economic cost by severely damaging our region’s reputation as a welcoming destination. Western North Carolina’s outdoor recreation economy cannot afford to alienate international tourists. We are already seeing the economic toll of aggressive immigration policies nationwide: according to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Travel Association, international visits to the United States dropped sharply in 2025, including a 10% decrease in visitors from South America and continued steep declines in travel from Asia. When foreign travelers fear that a hike or a picnic on our public lands might be interrupted by law enforcement roadblocks, interrogations, and detainments, they will simply choose to spend their tourism dollars in other countries. This creates unnecessary headwinds for our local businesses, which are still fighting to recover from the economic devastation of Hurricane Helene.
MountainTrue and the Center for Biological Diversity join other public lands advocates and partners in urgently requesting that the agency host a public meeting. The community deserves transparency regarding how taxpayer resources are being spent, the extent to which the Forest Service is coordinating with ICE, and how the agency plans to uphold its mandate to keep our public lands open and accessible.
We look forward to your prompt response and to an open and public dialogue.
Sincerely,
Josh Kelly
MountainTrue
Resilient Forests Director
josh@mountaintrue.orgWill Harlan
Center for Biological Diversity
Southeast Director and Senior Scientist
wharlan@biologicaldiversity.org
