WILDLIFE in the WEST
Threatened and endangered species in the West cover the gamut. They are bighorn sheep and wolves. They are sage-grouse and salmon. They are pygmy rabbits and spotted frogs.
Our wildlife cases wield the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and others to halt habitat destruction – unchecked grazing, industrial development, mining exploration, obsolete dams – wildlife in the West face these and many other threats daily.
As climate change and human activities cause the loss and fragmentation of habitats, our work becomes increasingly vital. We strive to protect and boost diminishing wildlife populations – from the mighty bighorn to the fragile frog.
Wildlife Services in Idaho
Case: Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, and Project Coyote v. Todd Grimm, USDA Aphis Wildlife Services, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
After Advocates for the West filed suit challenging Wildlife Services’s failure to analyze and disclose to the public the impacts of its activities in Idaho, Wildlife Services issued a draft environmental analysis that discusses some of the impacts of its activities at an Idaho-wide scale. Advocates for the West worked with our clients to draft comments…
Midas Gold Followup Case
Case: Environmental Assessment for the Golden Meadow Exploration Project
January 7th, 2015 — For the third time now, the Forest Service has issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and proposes to approve Midas Gold’s three-year exploration plan at Idaho’s historic Stibnite mining site. Twice – in response to our pressure – the Forest Service has withdrawn EAs for Midas’s exploration, citing the need for additional…
Idaho Water Quality: Fish Consumption Rate
Case: Notice of Intent to Sue EPA Under Clean Water Act for Failing to Prepare and Promulgate Toxics Standards in Idaho
April 30, 2013 — Advocates for the West sent EPA a Notice of Intent to Sue for failing to promptly revise these important water quality standards. We were able to craft a settlement agreement which gives IDEQ and other stakeholders time to complete fish consumption studies, but which sets a deadline to revise the standards…
Protecting Idaho’s Bighorn Sheep
Case: Idaho Wool Growers Association, et al. v. Tom Vilsack and The Wilderness Society
March 2, 2016 — The Ninth Circuit court issued an opinion in our favor affirming the district court’s summary judgement. The opinion was written by Judge Berzon of the Ninth Circuit, and is the culmination of litigation that began in 2007. It affirms that domestic sheep pose a substantial risk of disease transmission to bighorn…
Gunnison sage-grouse more than “threatened”
Case: Intent to Sue Over Violations of Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act
September 27, 2018 — A federal court decision preserves the listing status for Gunnison sage-grouse as a threatened species, with the critical habitat the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated for it intact. Fewer than 3,000 of this unique sage-grouse species remain, clustered around Colorado’s Gunnison Basin. Advocates for the West represented WildEarth Guardians and…
Idaho Predator Hunt Derby
Case: Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, and Project Coyote v. Kraayenbrink, Joseph J., and Bureau of Land Management
November 24, 2014 — In response to our lawsuit, BLM backed down from its decision to allow the derby to take place on the public lands managed by the agency. BLM informed us of the decision just hours before we planned to submit our brief asking the Court to stop this year’s hunt. Director of…
Salmon-Challis Water Diversions
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries
Advocates for the West is pleased to announce we settled this case against the Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries for failing to complete Endangered Species Act consultations for over 100 water diversions on streams in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho’s Upper Salmon River basin. The Salmon-Challis National Forest is home to important populations of threatened…
Great Basin sage-grouse
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. Dirk Kempthorne, Department of the Interior, and Bureau of Land Management
This large case challenges several hundred grazing permits, oil and gas leases, and other land management decisions approved by BLM during the last years of the Bush Administration, which individually and together harm the Great Basin core population of greater sage-grouse in Idaho and Nevada. BLM violated basic federal environmental laws — including the National Environmental Policy…
Oregon Spotted Frog on Antelope Allotment
Case: Concerned Friends of the Winema, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Western Watersheds Project, Oregon Wild, and Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Service
January 24, 2017 — In an exciting wrap-up to this important case, District Judge Aiken adopted in-full Judge Clarke’s ruling, which means that the biological opinion in question is vacated and the Forest Service must reinitiate consultation over the spotted frog. The agency will also be unable to issue new permits unless they demonstrate to…
Midas Gold Mining Exploration
Case: Idaho Conservation League, and Nez Perce Tribe v. U.S. Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
June 23rd, 2014 — The U.S. Forest Service issued a letter to Midas Gold revoking its earlier approval of the company’s exploration plans, known as the Golden Meadows Exploration Project. The Forest Service revoked its earlier approval of the project and ordered Midas Gold to halt all work at the site, and that if Midas…
