Congress quietly expands Arkansas wilderness protection by 2,200 acres
H.R. 1612 — Flatside Wilderness Additions Act · Filed by J. Hill (R-AR) · Introduced Feb 26, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill adds approximately 2,212 acres of land in the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas to the existing Flatside Wilderness, renaming it the Flatside-Bethune Wilderness. The bill preserves the Secretary of Agriculture's authority to manage fire, insects, and diseases in the wilderness area under existing law.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is the expansion of wilderness designation on federal public land, a straightforward conservation measure with no private carve-outs or industry exemptions.
What the text implies
- Renaming from 'Flatside Wilderness' to 'Flatside-Bethune Wilderness' may commemorate a person or place; the bill does not explain the rationale for the name change or who Bethune is.
- Section 3 preserves the Secretary's authority to conduct fire suppression, insect control, and disease management under the Wilderness Act—a standard provision that clarifies the bill does not restrict necessary land management.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands wilderness protection on public land, preserving approximately 2,212 acres from development, logging, and resource extraction, which benefits the general public through conservation, recreation access, and ecosystem preservation. The carve-out for fire and disease management preserves necessary land stewardship authority.
Named in the bill
Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture, Flatside Wilderness, Flatside-Bethune Wilderness
Where it stands
- Feb 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- May 13, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H1967)”
- May 13, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Oct 21, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $200,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 26 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
J. Hill, the sponsor, reported $1,558,189 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Southern Environmental Law Center — $200,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,205 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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