Case: Rio Grande Silvery Minnows v. Keys

We represent a coalition of national and state groups — including Wild Earth Guardians, National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and New Mexico Audubon — in this long-standing litigation over the impacts of the federal Middle Rio Grande water project on the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow. Once abundant throughout the Rio Grande, the silvery minnow is now […]

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 […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. Adrain Boer and K&W Dairy

Clean Air Act citizen suit against large proposed dairy for failing to obtain a permit to construct under Idaho air quality rules.  Because the dairy’s waste lagoons, manure piles, and barns would emit large amounts of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and particulates, it was required to obtain an air permit — but the dairy and Idaho regulators both […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. Stephen L. Johnson

April 1, 2009 — The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency signed a settlement agreement that required the EPA to approve or disapprove the Pending Arsenic and Cadmium revisions. July 7, 2008 — Advocates for the West presented Stephan L. Johnson, the administrator of EPA a letter of intent to sue. […]

Case: Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

February 3, 2010 — Advocates for the West sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its violation of the Endangered Species Act in refusing to determine if the pygmy rabbit warrants protection under the ESA. This case is now the third time we have had to sue the Service for its continued and repeated […]

Case: IWP v. Jones

Endangered Species Act citizen suit against Verl and Tuddie Jones for unlawful “take” of threatened bull trout through operation of their unscreened diversion on Otter Creek, located on Salmon Challis National Forest public lands. We won an injunction prohibiting further diversions until the irrigator obtained a special use permit from US Forest Service, and it conducted ESA consultation […]

Case: IWP v. Bennetts

Endangered Species Act citizen suit against Jim Bennetts for unlawful “take” of threatened salmon, steelhead, and bull trout associated with his unscreened public lands diversions on Herd Creek and Lake Creek (East Fork Salmon River watershed), and because of livestock damage to critical habitat on his base property. After we filed for summary judgment supported by several […]

Case: IWP v. Whitworth

Endangered Species Act citizen suit against Judd Whitworth and Sulphur Creek Livestock for unlawful “take” of threatened bull trout through operation of unscreened public lands diversion on Mahogany Creek, tributary to upper Pahsimeroi River. Our experts showed that the Mahogany Creek diversion would likely “take” bull trout through entrainment into the unscreened ditch, which continued […]

Case: Western Watersheds Project and Idaho Conservation League v. Sawtooth National Forest, Bill Levere, and U.S. Forest Service

Advocates for the West bring this case forward to address the issue of grazing in the Sawtooth National Recreational Area (SNRA). We represented Idaho Conservation League who argued that the U.S. National Forest Service failed to do a proper environmental analysis on the effect grazing would have to the wolf population in the SNRA. The […]

Case: Western Watersheds Project and Randall Hermann, MD. v. U.S. Forest Service

In response to our victory in the SNRA wolves case, Forest Service prepared an EIS for new grazing management on North Sheep, Smiley Creek, and other allotments in the Sawtooth National Forest of central Idaho, which are home to wolves, bighorn sheep, and endangered salmon and other fish.  These allotments are grazed by domestic sheep, which […]