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.
Chuckwalla National Monument Defense
Case: Daniel Torongo and BlueRibbon Coalition, Inc. v. Douglas Burgum; Bureau of Land Management; and the United States Department of the Interior
March 3, 2026 — A district court judge approved nine organizations’ request to intervene in a lawsuit to defend California’s Chuckwalla National Monument. The intervening organizations include CactusToCloud Institute, California Native Plant Society, CalWild, Center for Biological Diversity, Conservation Lands Foundation, the National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Vet Voice Foundation, and The Wilderness Society….
Sonoran Desert National Monument Followup Case
Case: Western Watersheds Project and Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management
December 20, 2024 — The Bureau of Land Management released a final decision on its livestock grazing plan for the National Monument, under which the agency will only authorize grazing in years with above-average annual precipitation and forage production. The decision requires BLM to analyze forage availability before allowing brief periods of grazing for 30…
Oil and Gas Lease Sales Near Bears Ears National Monument
Case: Friends of Cedar Mesa v. U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and Kent Hoffman
August 15, 2024 — Chief Administrative Judge Silvia Riechel Idziorek granted our motion to intervene in appeals the State of Utah, San Juan County, and Kirkwood Oil & Gas. July 12, 2024 — Advocates for the West filed a motion to intervene in appeals by the State of Utah, San Juan County, and Kirkwood Oil…
National Monuments FOIA Suit
Case: Advocates for the West v. United States Department of Justice
October 12, 2017 – Advocates for the West is representing itself in a suit filed today by Senior Attorney Todd Tucci against Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice, seeking disclosure of unlawfully withheld documents demonstrating that President Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lack authority to vacate or shrink Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase Escalante…
Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Defense
Case:
October 21, 2023 — The State of Utah and others appealed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit a federal district court judge’s decision dismissing Utah’s lawsuit challenging President Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act to restore and expand Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The Tenth Circuit heard oral argument…
Sonoran National Monument grazing
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Bureau of Land Management
President Clinton designated the 500,000-acre Sonoran Desert National Monument in 2001 to protect its outstanding wildlife, plant and other natural resources. The Monument proclamation ordered BLM to halt livestock grazing on part of the Monument, and to study whether grazing would be compatible with the Monument purposes on the remainder. Yet eight years later, BLM still has not made that compatability…
Bureau of Land Management Rangeland Degradation
Case: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Western Watersheds Project v. Debra Haaland, Tracy Stone-Manning, and U.S. Bureau of Land Management
September 13, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its failure to abide by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to determine the prioritization and timing of environmental analyses for livestock grazing allotments on public…
Canyon of the Ancients Grazing
Case: Protest of the Proposed Decision to Issue Ten-Year Term Grazing Permits for Yellow Jacket and Flodine Park allotments in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument
September 15, 2015 — the BLM published a letter announcing that after “considering the protests received on this grazing decision the BLM has determined that further analysis is warranted” before issuing 10-year term grazing permits for the Flodine Park and Yellow Jacket Allotments in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Instead, an Environmental Assessment regarding…
