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.
Idaho state land grazing
Case: Lazy Y Ranch v. Wiggins, 06-cv-340-MHW (D. Idaho)
Executive Director Laird Lucas has brought a series of lawsuits against the Idaho State Land Board over the last decade, based on their refusal to award school land leases to conservationists seeking to pay more money to protect and restore the lands. The Idaho Supreme Court has issued several decisions, all holding that it violates…
Mt. Wilson pinyon-juniper logging
Case: American Lands Alliance, WWP et al v. Kolkman, No. N-02-cv-182 (D. Nevada)
This case challenged BLM’s proposal to clearcut and mulch some 50 square miles of old growth pinyon-juniper forest around the Mt. Wilson area of central Nevada. BLM claimed that the logging was needed to reduce wildfire risks in the “urban/wildland interface,” even though there is no urban area in this remote part of Nevada — and…
Sonoran National Monument grazing
Case: WWP v. BLM, No. 08-cv-1472-MHM (D. Az.)
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…
February 7, 2006
Sawtooth North Sheep Allotments
Case: WWP & Dr. Randall Hermann v. US Forest Service, 05-cv-189 (D. Idaho)
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…
Sawtooth — North Sheep 2009
Case: WWP v. Forest Service, 05-cv-189 (D. Idaho)
Opening summary judgment brief filed June 25, 2010 in the Sawtooth–North Sheep case alleges that the Forest Service failed to take a “hard look” at sheep grazing impacts on several Sawtooth National Forest allotments, particularly on sensitive wildlife including fish and sage grouse. Even though we won a prior court order requiring analysis of grazing…
April 1, 2005
Clearwater Old Growth
Case: The Wilderness Society et al v. Bosworth, 118 F. Supp. 2d 1082 (D. Mont. 2000)
Representing a broad coalition of national, state and local conservation groups, we brought this case in 1997 to stop Forest Service plans to log old growth forests in the Clearwater region of central Idaho — including the headwaters of the Lochsa and North Fork Clearwater rivers. The case focused on how logging and logging roads…
April 29, 2005
Whiskey South timber sale
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. Bennett, 04-cv-447-MHW (D. Idaho)
BLM proposed to log over 12 million board feet of old growth forests in the South Fork Clearwater basin of central Idaho, asserting that risks of beetle infestation and wildfire required the logging. After a week long trial where we called several expert witnesses to show those arguments were not accurate, the federal court enjoined the logging…
Interior Mountain quail
Case: 9th Cir. 07-39577
Interior Mountain Quail were once abundant across the sagebrush-steppe, but are now reduced to a few populations in Oregon, Nevada and Idaho; and remaining populations are threatened by habitat destruction from grazing and other impacts. The US Fish and Wildlife Service rejected client Western Watersheds Project’s petition to list Interior Mountain Quail under the ESA, saying it is not a “distinct” population…
January 1, 2009
Washington State Lands
Case: Dr. Steve Herman & WWP v. WDFW, No. 08-2-00276-1, Thurston County Sup. Ct
Three rounds of state court litigation challenging Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s agreement with ranchers to open state wildlife refuges to livestock grazing, various grazing leases given by WDFW on state wildlife refuges, and an EIS which opened up the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area to grazing. These include areas vital to the last remaining sage-grouse populations…
February 1, 2009
Jarbidge Sage-Grouse
Case: WWP v. Dyer, 04-cv-181-BLW (D. Idaho)
This long-standing litigation challenges BLM’s mismanagement of grazing in the Jarbidge Resource Area of southern Idaho, which has harmed sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits, and other sensitive sagebrush-obligate species and their habitats. Our first court victory, in 2004, held that BLM violated NEPA in approving “temporary” grazing increases sought by Simplot Co. and other major corporate ranchers….
