WE WORK WONDERS for NATURAL WONDERS
When an environmental plight calls for lean and hard-hitting legal muscle, conservation groups, Native American Tribes, and concerned citizens call on us. Advocates for the West boosts the strength of our partners by providing free legal representation in federal court—advancing the mission of every client by putting the power of law and science on the side of the West.
Since our founding in 2003, Advocates for the West has provided free legal support to our partners with an 85% record of success.
Smart and efficient, our attorneys work with partners to develop strategic cases aimed at enforcing the nation’s bedrock environmental laws. We handle an extensive caseload with an impressive win record.
We work wonders to perpetuate natural wonders. We win for the West.
Stibnite Gold Project Approval
Case: Save the South Fork Salmon, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Earthworks, Center for Biological Diversity, and American Rivers v. U.S. Forest Service, et al.
February 18, 2025 — Advocates for the West and our partners sued the U.S. Forest Service for its approval of the Stibnite Gold Project, an open-pit cyanide leach gold mine in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains that would jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened species, and permanently scar thousands of acres of public land…
State and Industry Challenges to Public Lands Rule
Case: States of Utah and Wyoming v. Deb Haaland, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Conservation Lands Foundation, and The Wilderness Society
October 1, 2024 — Advocates for the West and our partners at Conservation Lands Foundation, The Wilderness Society, and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed a motion to intervene to defend BLM’s Public Lands Rule against yet another lawsuit brought this past summer by the American Farm Bureau and other industry trade associations representing the oil…
Antelope Allotment: FOIA Records Request
Case: Western Watersheds Project vs. U.S. Forest Service
June 20, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel the U.S. Forest Service to release public records as required by law. The case involves two separate FOIA requests sent to the Forest Service regarding resource conflicts on the Antelope Allotment within Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forest. The…
Stibnite Mine Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification
Case: Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Save the South Fork Salmon, and Earthworks v. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
February 7, 2025 — Advocates for the West filed our opening brief challenging the Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the proposed Stibnite Gold Project. June 25, 2024 — Advocates for the West appealed a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification issued by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)…
Pawnee National Grassland Oil & Gas Drilling
Case: Center for Biological Diversity v. Keith E. Berger, in his official capacity as Field Manager for the U.S. Bureau of land Management's Royal Gorge Field Office, and Bureau of Land Management
September 27, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed our response to federal defendants’ motion to dismiss. June 11, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for failing to protect shortgrass prairie in Colorado’s Pawnee National Grassland, which is threatened by continued oil and gas extraction. The…
NEXT Refinery and Railyard
Case: Columbia Riverkeeper and 1000 Friends of Oregon v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
October 19, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed our response to defendants’ motion to dismiss. May 30, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for determining that a Rivers and Harbors Act Section 14 permit was not required for NEXT Renewable Fuels’ proposed refinery and rail yard…
Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Grazing Mismanagement
Case: WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
November 8, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed our motion for summary judgment and statement of facts in this case. May 14, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for failing to ensure cattle grazing on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Montana’s Centennial…
Crooked River Water Rights
Case: Upper Crooked River Conservationists and Shotgun Ranch, LLC v. Water Resources Department of the State of Oregon and Water Resources Commission of the State of Oregon
February 11, 2025 — Advocates for the West won a victory to protect fish and wildlife in Oregon’s Crooked River. The Crook County Circuit Court rejected several ranchers’ attempt to invalidate the water right issued by the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) to protect flows for fish and wildlife in the lower Crooked River. The…
Owyhee Military Airspace Expansion
Case: Oregon Natural Desert Association, Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, and Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Department of the Air Force
January 22, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed suit challenging the Air Force’s decision to expand and intensify its military trainings using F-15 fighter jets over Wilderness Areas and Wild and Scenic Rivers in the Owyhee Canyonlands of Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, threatening key sage-grouse strongholds, as well as bighorn sheep and other wildlife….
Air Force Owyhee Airspace Optimization: FOIA Records Request
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Air Force
October 10, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to compel Mountain Home Air Force Base to release public records as required by law. The records relate to the Air Force’s proposal to expand and intensify military aircraft trainings over the Owyhee Canyonlands of southwestern Idaho, southeastern Oregon,…
