News

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…

Advocates for the West is celebrating a sound victory against suction dredge miner Shannon Poe of California for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) by operating a suction dredge on Idaho’s South Fork of the Clearwater River for 42 days last summer without a CWA permit. We filed suit against Poe on behalf of Idaho Conservation League (ICL). Chief…

Advocates for the West recently filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to halt a plan approved under the Trump Administration that would punch a four-lane highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in southern Utah. The planned highway would pave over a protected, sensitive, scenic desert paradise in southwest Utah,…