News

Our Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Laird Lucas is returning as Executive Director, as Wendy Wilson departs to re-engage in her lifelong passion for policy and advocacy work on water, climate and energy issues. “We are all thankful for Wendy’s leadership in taking Advocates for the West to a new level as an organization,” said Laird Lucas. “As…

Former Idaho Governors Cecil Andrus and Philip Batt have retained Advocates for the West’s Director of Litigation, Laird Lucas, to fight the Department of Energy’s proposal to ship commercial spent nuclear fuel to Idaho for “testing” and “research” at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The former governors are upset because the 1995 Batt Settlement Agreement –…

When beautiful spring weather arrives in Boise, it’s easy to forget about the dismal days of winter inversions. As we all enjoy the clean, crisp air of springtime, Advocates for the West will be hard at work – ensuring improved air quality for every season! It’s no surprise to locals that air quality can be less than pristine…

BOISE, ID – In response to a lawsuit brought by Senior Attorney Laurie Rule on behalf of six conservation allies, a federal court ordered the US Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its 2013 decision to reduce by 90 percent its designation of critical habitat for the endangered mountain caribou. The court found in Monday’s decision that the agency did not give…

BOISE, IDAHO – On March 5, 2015, former Idaho governors Cecil D. Andrus and Philip E. Batt called upon the State of Idaho and the federal Department of Energy to fully disclose their plans for shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).Representing the Governors, Advocates for the West Director of Litigation, Laird Lucas, sent a letter today to Energy Secretary…

ARIZONA – On Thursday, February 26th, Federal District Judge Paul G. Rosenblatt found that “[T]he process by which BLM made its decision to allow grazing on the Sonoran Desert National Monument…was not adequately explained nor adequately supported…and thus violates NEPA.” This is a tremendous victory for the delicate Sonoran landscape and its many sensitive species, such as…

DENVER, CO: On Tuesday, January 20th, Advocates for the West filed suit against the US Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of WildEarth Guardians and retired state biologist Dr. Clait Braun, seeking endangered species protections for the rare Gunnison sage-grouse. Despite clear ongoing threats to the bird’s survival, in November 2014, the agency designated Gunnison sage-grouse as a ‘threatened’ species, rather than the…

Boise, ID:  In response to our lawsuit, the Bureau of Land Management backed down from its decision to allow the Idaho Predator Hunting Derby on 3.1 million acres of our public lands surrounding Salmon, Idaho. Advocates for the West’s Director of Litigation Laird Lucas and Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt represent Defenders of Wildlife in this case, filed…

Advocates for the West filed a complaint on November 13, 2014 against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s action authorizing an “Idaho Predator Hunt Derby” on public lands surrounding the town of Salmon.  Event organizers were granted a 5-year permit for an annual 3-day event which would include up to 500 participants. Entrants would be encouraged…

On September 8, 2014, Advocates for the West filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program over its large-scale, often secretive killing of wild animals in Idaho, on behalf of four conservation organizations. The program kills millions of animals nationwide every year, and in 2013 killed more than 3,000…