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.
Oil & Gas Drilling in the Uncompahgre Region
Case: Oil & Gas Drilling in the Uncompahgre Region
September 15, 2020 – On behalf of public land conservation groups, Advocates for the West filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado challenging the Trump administration’s land use plan for the Uncompahgre region. The plan opens vast areas of western Colorado, including the North Fork Valley, to oil and gas…
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
December 16, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed a brief defending the Phase One victory last February, which vacated oil and gas leases in sage-grouse habitats. 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…
Mogollon Rim Followup Case
Case: Case 2:20-cv-00328-GMS
December 11, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed a reply brief arguing that the US Forest Service’s “new” management practices do not differ substantially from recent practices, and thus Federal Defendants cannot rely on them to explain why dramatically increasing the amount of grazing on the Bar X and opening up areas long closed to grazing…
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
April 8, 2021 – Advocates for the West reinitiated our lawsuit in D.C. District Court against two Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales outside Bears Ears National Monument. Our case, representing Friends of Cedar Mesa, largely focuses on negative cultural resource impacts (NEPA and NHPA claims) and also includes an ESA consultation claim. February…
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…
