Chronology of Success 2017
‘Winning for the West’
January 2017
- Wild and Scenic Rivers: Under a settlement reached after nearly four years of mediation, our long-standing litigation blocking Big Oil mega-loads from using U.S. Highway 12 was resolved through settlement, under which the Forest Service instructed Idaho Transportation Department not to permit further mega-loads within the Wild and Scenic corridor along the Middle Fork Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers.
February 2017
- Salmon and Steelhead: Advocates for the West filed the first lawsuit in the nation against newly-appointed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for failing to follow the Clean Water Act in developing a plan to reduce heat temperature sources (mainly dams) in the lower Snake and Columbia Rivers, that are lethal to imperiled salmon and steelhead.
May 2017
- National Conservation Lands: We represented Conservation Lands Foundation, Conserve Southwest Utah, and The Wilderness Society in winning dismissal by the Interior Board of Land Appeals of an appeal seeking to punch a new highway and utility lines through the Red Cliffs and Beaver Dam Wash National Conservation Areas in southern Utah.
July 2017
- Point Reyes National Seashore: After months of confidential negotiations, we finalized a court-approved settlement with the National Park Service and local ranchers to improve management of this unique and beloved national treasure. The agency agrees to conduct a comprehensive environmental review to study impacts of ranching on the Seashore, and determine whether (and to what extent) beef and dairy operations will be allowed at Point Reyes in the future. This will be a public process and must determine whether ranching is compatible with the overriding requirement that environmental and recreational values not be impaired.
- East Fork Salmon River: Court-approved settlement of our 2016 lawsuit results in 2 years’ closure of the Upper and Lower East Fork allotments on the East Fork Salmon River–together totaling about 100,000 acres of sensitive lands–while the Forest Service conducts monitoring and environmental analysis to assess livestock impacts to listed fish habitat.
August 2017
- East Fork Salmon River: Following pressure from our East Fork Salmon River litigation, the Sawtooth National Forest permanently closed the 45,000-acre Upper East Fork allotment through a willing buyer/willing seller retirement of the grazing permit under the Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness Act.
September 2017
- Protecting Boise River: In our latest victory against mining pollution in the Boise River, we won a ruling holding Atlanta Gold Corp. in contempt of court for continuing to illegally discharge arsenic and lead from an historic adit near the Middle Fork of the Boise River. The court found that Atlanta Gold violated the Clean Water Act 567 times in the past 5 years, and ordered the company to clean up its act and to pay a $502,000 penalty.
November 2017
- Bighorn Sheep: In our latest win for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale of the U.S. District Court for Idaho issued an emergency injunction prohibiting the Caribou-Targhee National Forest from allowing turn-out of two large bands of domestic sheep from winter grazing on the Snakey & Kelly Canyon allotments to prevent transmission of fatal disease to bighorns. The Court rejected the Forest Service’s argument that the grazing was needed to conduct research as part of the Forest Service’s Sheep Station that causes numerous wildlife conflicts in the Centennial Mountains.
December 2017
- Quiet Winter Recreation: In response to the federal court lawsuit we filed in November 2017, the Boise, Payette and Bridget-Teton National Forests withdrew winter motorized travel maps they issued this fall–with no environmental analysis or public input–allowing snowmobiles and other “over-snow” motorized vehicles access into sensitive wildlife habitats and areas prized by cross-country skiers and other quiet winter recreationists.