Colville National Forest Wolves
Current Status:
PENDING
Case Title:
WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and Kettle Range Conservation Group V. US Forest Service, Case #2:20-cv-00223
Staff attorney(s):
Laurie Rule
Client(s):
WildEarth Guardians
Western Watersheds Project
Kettle Range Conservation Group
To Protect:
Gray Wolves
States:Washington
Case Information:
January 22, 2021 — Advocates for the West, in partnership with Jennifer Schwartz of WildEarth Guardians and Talasi Brooks of Western Watersheds Project, jointly filed a summary judgement brief, along with declarations from wolf expert Carter Niemeyer, Kettle Range Conservation Group executive director Timothy Coleman, and biologist Jocelyn Leroux. Our filing compels the court to find that the U.S. Forest Service’s revised Colville Forest Plan violate federal laws by failing to investigate and address potential impacts of livestock grazing to wolves within the Diamond M Ranch grazing allotments.
June 17, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed suit over the U.S. Forest Service’s inaction to protect endangered gray wolves in Washington’s Colville National Forest, where livestock ranching activities have incited conflict. The agency’s negligence has resulted in the deaths of 26 wolves since 2012, including the destruction of both the Profanity Peak Pack and the Old Profanity Territory Pack.
Our lawsuit challenges the Forest Service’s revised Colville National Forest Plan for failing to evaluate how the agency’s federally permitted livestock grazing program adversely affects wolves.
Our suit also challenges the Forest Service’s approval of cattle grazing for Diamond M Ranch without requiring any measures to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts from recurring. This ranching operation is responsible for the majority of wolf deaths on the Colville National Forest since 2012.
