News

Advocates for the West recently filed a lawsuit challenging the controversial National Park Service management plan for expanding private agriculture at California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, one of a handful of national parks that permits cattle grazing.  The Park Service plan paves the way for 20-year leases for beef and dairy ranchers in the park, enshrining and expanding commercial…

Advocates for the West recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of Idaho Conservation League (ICL) against the U.S. Forest Service for failing to comply with environmental laws when it approved the 20-year Sage Hen Integrated Forest Restoration Project. The project includes extensive road construction, logging, thinning, and prescribed fire, plus some watershed restoration activities, on 68,000-acres…

Advocates for the West recently filed the opening brief in our case for Friends of the Clearwater against the U.S. Forest Service to protect Idaho’s Salmon-Clearwater Divide from massive clearcuts and other destructive logging in biodiverse old growth forest and sensitive watersheds. Our case challenges two neighboring logging projects, “Hungry Ridge” and “End of the World,” which when…

The Nez Perce Tribe recently reached a settlement agreement with the state of Oregon resolving a case that Advocates for the West filed—along with the Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel—challenging the state of Oregon’s Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification for the relicensing of the Hells Canyon Complex. The Hells Canyon Complex, owned and operated by…

Advocates for the West won a strong victory for threatened Upper Willamette River wild spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead last week when U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez issued a final opinion and order directing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to immediately undertake new measures at dams in Oregon’s Willamette River basin. The injunction requires the Corps to…

Advocates for the West notified the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they are in violation of the Endangered Species Act by approving the “Sage Hen Integrated Restoration Project” in Idaho’s West Mountains without protecting threatened bull trout. The Sage Hen Project authorizes constructing over 80 miles of roads and commercially harvesting timber on 18,000 acres over the next…

Advocates for the West secured a victory this week in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect threatened Idaho salmon, steelhead, and bull trout from irrigation water diversions in Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley. The Ninth Circuit decision, issued on August 25, upholds our lower court win that requires the U.S. Forest Service to consult with experts and protect fish. We sued…

Advocates for the West is celebrating a sound victory for threatened Upper Willamette River wild spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez of Oregon federal court outlined the actions that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) must immediately take to protect these imperiled species from extinction. In a strongly worded draft order,…

Advocates for the West filed suit against the Arizona Bureau of Land Management (Bureau) for failing to protect the native plants, wildlife, and cultural resources found within the Sonoran Desert National Monument from the devastating impacts of livestock grazing.

Advocates for the West is celebrating another sweeping win to protect the imperiled sage-grouse from oil and gas drilling approved by the Trump Administration. Our Staff Attorney Sarah Stellberg masterfully handled this case on behalf of clients Center for Biological Diversity and Western Watersheds Project, along with Executive Director Laird Lucas. On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush suspended new drilling and…