Advocates for the West is excited to welcome Ben Gordon as the organization’s next executive director. Gordon was selected following a national search launched earlier this year after founding Executive Director Laird Lucas announced his plans to retire from the position in June. Gordon joins Advocates for the West after serving since 2020 as executive […]
Advocates for the West and a coalition of local and national conservation organizations today filed an appeal seeking to reverse federal agencies’ unlawful approval of the Stibnite Gold Project and halt Perpetua Resources’ initial mine construction. The proposed open-pit cyanide leach gold mine would jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened species and permanently […]
Advocates for the West and a coalition of local and national conservation organizations on Friday filed an appeal to halt Perpetua Resources’ construction of the Stibnite Gold Project in the headwaters of Idaho’s South Fork of the Salmon River. Perpetua has insisted on moving forward with “full construction” despite the conservation groups’ pending lawsuit that seeks […]
Advocates for the West and a coalition of local and national conservation groups filed a motion for preliminary injunction to halt Perpetua Resource’s pending construction of the Stibnite Gold Project, an open-pit cyanide leach gold mine in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Salmon River. The motion asks to halt construction of the […]
Advocates for the West, along with six Utah-based and national conservation organizations, amended our February lawsuit today over the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to adequately protect the threatened Mojave desert tortoise when reapproving the Northern Corridor Highway in January 2026. The long-opposed highway would tear through critical […]
Last week, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) filed litigation against the cities of Burley and Rexburg over ongoing violations of the federal Clean Water Act at wastewater treatment plants they operate. This action comes after Snake River Waterkeeper (SRW) and the Idaho Conservation League (ICL), represented by attorneys at Advocates for the West, […]
A Colorado federal judge reinforced a major conservation victory for bighorn sheep conservation on the Rio Grande National Forest. The court granted a motion to remand the decision to create the Wishbone Allotment back to the U.S. Forest Service, requiring thorough assessment before domestic sheep grazing can be authorized on the allotment. “Bighorn sheep are […]
The U.S. District Court granted a motion by conservation organizations to block ground-disturbing activities associated with construction of the Northern Corridor Highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area near St. George, Utah. The Court’s injunction prohibits the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) from starting construction-related activities that would cause irreparable harm to the threatened […]
GREAT FALLS, Mont.— Conservation groups sued the Bureau of Land Management today to challenge its final plans governing greater sage grouse management across 71 million acres of federal public lands in nine Western states. Today’s lawsuit covers the dwindling species’ habitat in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, California, Utah and Wyoming. The Trump administration finalized […]
Conservation groups filed a petition for review with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) challenging a permit the agency issued early this year to Perpetua Resources for the Stibnite Gold Project, a proposed mine 12 miles east of Yellow Pine, Idaho, on lands in the Boise and Payette National Forests and private holdings. DEQ […]