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.
BLM Secret Permit Transfer
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Arnold L. Pike, Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of the Interior
Advocates for the West filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management challenging BLM secret grazing permit transfer to one of the largest livestock corporations in the U.S., J.R. Simplot Livestock Co (“Simplot”). In the midst of separate litigation over the BLM’s grazing permits on the Battle Creek allotment, BLM secretly transferred two of these…
Camas Creek Fisheries
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Forest Service, Jack Whitworth, and Whitworth Ranches
April 15, 2013 — We successfully settled the case. Under the terms of the settlement, the agencies withdrew their flawed ESA consultations and agreed to prepare new ones. And importantly, no grazing will occur until the new consultations are completed. September 28, 2012 — Advocates attorneys have filed the Opening Brief in our litigation to protect…
Medicine Bow Bighorn Sheep
Case: Biodiversity Conservation Alliance v. Butch Blazer, Ann Mills, USDA, and U.S. Forest Service
Advocates for the West filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service in Wyoming over the agency’s revised Forest Plan for the Medicine Bow National Forest. In the Medicine Bow Revised Forest Plan, the Forest Service provided measures to protect two bighorn sheep herds on the Forest, but admitted that a third herd on the Forest…
Steens Mountain Wind Development
Case: Oregon Natural Desert Association and Audubon Society of Portland v. Ken Salazar and Bureau of Land Management
On May 26, 2016 — Oregon Natural Desert Association won a 9th circuit court ruling that an environmental review by the BLM failed to adequately address the population of greater sage-grouse during winter at the proposed wind farm facility at Steens Mountain. ONDA filed the appeal with the 9th circuit following our 2013 settlement, after…
Idaho Water Quality Standards
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
January 3, 2012 — Advocates for the West filed a complaint on behalf of Idaho Conservation League against EPA for failing to comply with its duty under the Clean Water Act to either approve or disapprove Idaho water quality standards which aim to protect people who consume fish caught in Idaho’s lakes and rivers from…
Fossil Creek
Case: Center for Biological Diversity v. Heather Provencio, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled in our favor in the Fossil Creek case challenging a U.S. Forest Service plan to allow livestock grazing in habitat for the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog in central Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. The court held that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act…
Pygmy Rabbit Not Warranted for ESA Listing
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Daniel Ashe, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Advocates for the West sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its refusal to protect the pygmy rabbit as an threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The pygmy rabbit is a native rabbit once found throughout the Great Basin, in recent years rabbit populations and habitat have been eliminated or destroyed by…
US Forest Service Travel Management Plans Exclude Snowmobiles
Case: Winter Wildlands Alliance v. U.S. Forest Service
March 29, 2013 — Senior Attorney Laurie Rule received word that U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush had ruled in our favor. In his Court Decision, Judge Bush specifically calls out Executive Order 11644, stating that the Order – “requires an agency to promulgate regulations that provide for designation of areas of use and non-use…
Snowmobile Use in California National Forests
Case: Snowlands Network, Winter Wildlands Alliance, and Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Service
August 26th, 2013 — This case was successfully settled with the US Forest Service agreeing to conduct a new NEPA no later than May 30, 2015. Advocates for the West is representing Snowlands Network, Winter Wildlands Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity in a case regarding better management of snowmobile use on National Forest land in…
Atlanta Gold
Case: Idaho Conservation League and Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Atlanta Gold Corporations
July 19, 2012 — Advocates for the West received a strong decision from US District Court Judge Williams in our case against Atlanta Gold Corporation for its ongoing pollution of the treasured Boise River watershed. Judge Williams ordered Atlanta Gold Corp. to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act by October 31, 2012 and…
