LAND in the WEST
In the West, there is an unmistakable feeling of openness. That call of the wild. That sense that this belongs to all of us. As, in truth, it does. With over 350 million acres of public lands in the West, this land is our land.
The American West is home to some of the most biologically diverse and beautiful regions in the world. From the Northern Rockies, to the Sierras and Cascades, to the vast Sagebrush Sea, the singular nature of each place in the West’s public lands unfolds a boundless variety of wonder.
The inherent possibility in the wild nature of the West is limitless – we consider it our sacred trust to ensure public lands are here to benefit many generations to come.
Fairfield OSV Winter Travel
Case: 1:19-cv-00195-DCN
April 14, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed suit to help defend a winter travel plan issued by the Forest Service that regulates snowmobile use on a Ranger District in Central Idaho. The Fairfield Ranger District on the Sawtooth National Forest completed a winter travel plan that allowed for significantly increased public snowmobile use in the…
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area Grazing
Case: Case 4:20-cv-00149-JGZ
April 7, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on behalf of Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity for the agency’s failure to protect the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (RNCA) from damage caused by livestock grazing. The BLM’s 2019 management plan sanctioned destructive levels of livestock grazing…
February 27, 2020
Oil & Gas Leases in Sage-Grouse Habitat
Case: Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity V. Ryan K. Zinke, David Bernhardt; and BLM
February 27, 2020 – Advocates for the West won a significant victory when the court overturned a Trump administration policy which curtailed public participation in oil and gas leasing decisions. The court also granted Advocates for the West‘s request to void lease sales covering nearly 1 million acres of public lands — roughly a quarter of all…
Mogollon Rim Followup Case
Case: Case 2:20-cv-00328-GMS
February 12, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed suit against the Forest Service over its inadequate NEPA and ESA analysis for a new grazing decision affecting the Bar X grazing allotment, just below Arizona’s scenic Mogollon Rim. The Forest Service has decided to expand grazing on the allotment and reopen areas that have been closed to…
Antelope Allotment Grazing Followup
Case: Case 1:19-cv-00516-MC
February 25, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief in this case. December 20, 2019 — Advocates for the West filed a motion for summary judgment in this case. We are asking the court to issue a ruling in our favor based on more than a decade of the agency’s own scientific evidence and…
December 18, 2019
Kilgore Mine Exploration in Centennial Mountains
Case: Case 1:18-cv-00504-CWD
May 4, 2020 — The U.S. District Court in Idaho revoked the Forest Service’s approval of the Kilgore Project and stopped Otis Gold Corp. (now Excellon Resources Inc.) from moving forward with its exploration project. This important decision follows Judge Winmill’s December 2019 ruling that the Forest Service failed to consider Otis’s underground drilling as a…
Little Colorado River Basin Fracking
Case: Case 3:19-cv-08204-CDB
February 6, 2020 — Advocates for the West reached an agreement with the Trump administration suspending 4,200 acres of oil and gas leases on public land in Arizona’s Little Colorado River Valley as part of a joint motion filed in federal court. The federal government’s suspension of the leases prohibits any oil and gas activity…
Oil and Gas Lease Sales Near Bears Ears National Monument
Case: Friends of Cedar Mesa v. DOI, BLM, Kent Hoffman
February 6, 2019 – Advocates for the West filed suit to halt oil and gas lease sales in an unprotected and archaeologically rich area in southern Utah. Located between Canyons of the Ancients and Bears Ears National Monuments, this region is by far the densest archaeological area open to oil and gas leasing on public lands in…
Gold Mining on Conglomerate Mesa
Case: Petition Filed against BLM
Friday, June 15, 2018 – Advocates for the West challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) approval of the Perdito Project – a gold mine exploration project that would drill mining holes on Conglomerate Mesa, which is located on California Desert Conservation Lands. Conglomerate Mesa is a spectacularly wild and remote area of the Inyo Mountains…
October 11, 2018
Mogollon Rim Cattle Grazing
Case: Neighbors of the Mogollon Rim, Inc. VS. U.S. Forest Service
October 11, 2018: Advocates for the West just reached an agreement with the Forest Service to keep the beautiful forested area below the Mogollon Rim in the Tonto National Forest free from livestock grazing for the foreseeable future. The area will remain cattle-free while the agency assesses whether grazing is compatible with the landscape and how it may affect wildlife habitat…
