Chronology of Success 2014
‘Winning for the West’
February 2014
- Over the course of the last 14 years, Advocates for the West has won 5 separate suits highlighting the importance of an ESA listing for slickspot peppergrass–a delicate flowering plant found only in sagebrush steppe regions of southwest Idaho. Finally in 2014, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing slickspot peppergrass as threatened.
March 2014
- U.S. Ninth Circuit Judge Tashima, sitting by designation in the District of Idaho, agreed with us that Payette National Forest properly closed “high risk” allotments to domestic sheep grazing in order to protect Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, rejecting challenges brought by Idaho Woolgrowers Association; we intervened to defend the U.S. Forest Service’s closure decision.
May 2014
- Under pressure from Advocates for the West, the federal agency USDA Wildlife Services backed down from its plans to use State of Idaho funds to poison and shoot ravens across southern Idaho as a means of purportedly helping greater sage-grouse from predation.
June 2014
- In response to a federal court lawsuit we filed for Idaho Conservation League challenging the Golden Meadows mining exploration project in critical salmon and steelhead habitat in Idaho’s South Fork Salmon River watershed, the Forest Service abruptly withdrew its approval of the project instead of facing our litigation challenges.
August 2014
- In response to ongoing legal pressure from Advocates for the West, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally issued a decision to list the Oregon spotted frog under ESA. This listing will have positive impacts on important Oregon habitat that has been heavily over-grazed in the past.
September 2014
- Senior Attorney Todd Tucci won another victory from U.S. District Court in Idaho, holding that BLM misconstrued a congressional “grazing rider” to avoid enforcement of environmental standards. This will assure new environmental review of dozens of grazing permits in southern Idaho.
- We also sent USDA Wildlife Services a “notice of intent to sue” letter over its violations of National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act in its Idaho “predator management” programs which uses aerial gunning, trapping and poisoning to kill thousands of coyotes and other wildlife in Idaho each year.
October 2014
- In our long-standing effort to protect salmon, steelhead and bull trout from harmful impacts of public-land irrigation diversions, we reached a settlement with U.S. Forest Service. The agency agreed to complete Endangered Species Act consultations over 100 potentially fish-killing water diversions on numerous streams in Upper Salmon River watershed of central Idaho and make sure they have fish-screens and that water use is metered.
November 2014
- Representing Defenders of Wildlife, we brought hard-hitting federal court litigation that forced Bureau of Land Management to rescind its approval of a special recreation permit for a vocal Idaho anti-wolf group to stage a competitive wolf and coyote killing contest across 3.1 million acres of BLM lands in eastern and central Idaho over the next five years.
December 2014
- Resolving our “notice of intent to sue” over water quality standards for fish consumption, we reached a favorable settlement with the EPA. The settlement ensures that inadequate water quality standards in Idaho will be revised to better protect people from exposure to dangerous toxins.