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.
Stibnite Mine Air Quality Permit
Case: Idaho Conservation League and Save the South Fork Salmon v. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Idaho Board of Environmental Quality
November 7, 2025 — Advocates for the West and our partners filed our opening brief in our state court case challenging the air pollution permit issued for the Stibnite Gold Mine. September 18, 2025 — An Ada County judge ruled in favor of Advocates for the West and our partners, denying DEQ’s motion to dismiss…
Point Reyes National Seashore Followup Case
Case: Resource Renewal Institute, Center for Biological Diversity, and Western Watersheds Project v. National Park Service
August 1, 2025 — Advocates for the West filed our answering brief in a U.S. Ninth Circuit appeal by Marin attorney Andrew Giacomini of the district court’s decision denying intervention to anonymous “Doe” ranching tenants. The tenants seek to intervene in our case that is administratively closed and will likely be dismissed next year, following…
Sage Hen Project Logging
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
October 19, 2022 — Advocates for the West reached a settlement requiring the Forest Service to develop an additional alternative with reduced road construction and commercial logging for the Sage Hen Restoration Project on Idaho’s Boise National Forest. December 20, 2021 — Advocates for the West filed a lawsuit on behalf of Idaho Conservation League (ICL)…
Oil & Gas Leases in Sage-Grouse Habitat
Case: Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity v. Ryan K. Zinke, David Bernhardt; and BLM
January 17, 2025 — Advocates for the West won a victory upholding our Phase One win in this case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the first Trump administration illegally approved hundreds of oil and gas leases on public lands and prohibited any further development of those leases. The leases…
Northern Corridor Highway through Red Cliffs National Conservation Area
Case: Conserve Southwest Utah, Conservation Lands Foundation, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, The Wilderness Society, and WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management
January 21, 2026 — The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) re-approved a proposal from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), at the behest of Washington County, for the construction of a four-lane Northern Corridor Highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area near St. George, Utah. The decision reverses a December 2024 rejection of the same proposal by the…
Logging in the Salmon-Clearwater Divide
Case: Friends of the Clearwater v. Cheryl F. Probert and U.S. Forest Service
February 21, 2025 — Advocates for the West filed a response in opposition to the Forest Service’s motion to dissolve the Court’s prior injunction in light of the agency’s new project approvals. On remand, the Forest Service updated its old growth analyses and issued new records of decision approving slightly modified versions of both the…
Oil & Gas Drilling in the Uncompahgre Region
Case: Western Slope Conservation Center, The Wilderness Society, and Wilderness Workshop v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, David Bernhardt, and Jamie E. Connell
October 17, 2022 — Advocates for the West reached a settlement agreement with the BLM that prevents the issuance of new oil and gas leases for lands in the Uncompahgre planning area until the agency conducts a more thorough environmental analysis and develops an amended plan. Under the agreement, the BLM must reconsider the eligibility of lands open to oil and…
Fairfield OSV Winter Travel
Case: Idaho State Snowmobile Association v. U.S. Forest Service, the Sawtooth National Forest, Jim Demaagd, Mike Dettori
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: Western Watersheds Project, Center for Biological Diversity, and Sierra Club v. Anthony (Scott) Feldhausen, BLM Arizona State Director, and Bureau of Land Management
August 1, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed a settlement agreement sending the Bureau of Land Management back to its planning desk to reconsider the impacts of livestock grazing on the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. The settlement compels the Bureau to reconsider the compatibility of grazing authorizations on four allotments within the…
Mogollon Rim Followup Case
Case: Neighbors of the Mogollon Rim, Inc. v. U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
May 5, 2023 — Advocates for the West won a significant victory in defense of this pristine corner of Arizona’s Tonto National Forest just below the scenic Mogollon Rim. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Forest Service made “serious errors” in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in approving a…
