HOW the WEST is WON
The groundwork has been laid. Many wild spaces in the West remain rugged, varied, and open—largely because they have been designated to stay that way by presidential and congressional decree. A vast network of public lands stretch across the West, protected in theory – but not always in practice.
Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and other agencies, the federal government oversees hundreds of millions of acres of land—and the air, water and wildlife they hold—in the West.
But too often, the very agencies designated to protect the West’s natural treasures allow grazing, mining, energy development and other destructive practices to pollute, damage, and destroy. We step in to hold these agencies accountable to law and science.
Advocates for the West is the legal voice that speaks up when the environment calls for it. We partner pro bono with conservation groups to help enforce the bedrock environmental statutes now in place to protect our public lands.
We win or favorably settle over 85% of our cases. When we do, it advances the endeavors of every conservation group in the West.
We wield law and science to stand our ground. Nowadays, it’s how the West is won.
January 27, 2017
Highway 12 Followup Case
Case: 3:13-cv-00348-BLW
In February of 2013, US Chief District Judge Winmill ruled in our favor on a case in which we represented Idaho Rivers United (IRU) against the US Forest Service for their refusal to keep megaloads off Highway 12. The ruling states that, contrary to the USFS’s claims, they do in fact have authority to limit and…
January 24, 2017
Oregon Spotted Frog on Antelope Allotment
Case: Concerned Friends of the Winema et al vs. US Forest Service
In May 2014, in a followup case to our 2010 victory protecting the Oregon spotted frog and unique sensitive plants, Advocates for the West filed suit against the US Forest Service. We challenged livestock grazing activities on the Antelope Allotment of the Fremont-Winema National Forest that directly trample and degrade frog habitat and sensitive plants. This allotment…
October 28, 2016
Oregon Spotted Frog Habitat Protection
Case: Oregon Spotted Frog Habitat Protection
On July 21, 2015, Advocates for the West’s Senior Attorney Laurie Rule and Staff Attorney Lizzy Zultoski submitted a notice of intent to sue the Bureau of Reclamation on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity. The notice letter alleges that the agency’s operation and maintenance of the Wickiup and Crane Prairie dams on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon…
August 2, 2016
Golden Hand Mining Exploration
Case: Idaho Conservation League et al vs. Lannom, Keith B., Payette National Forest Service Supervisor, and U.S. Forest Service
Advocates for the West is challenging a mining company’s plan to deploy bulldozers, dump trucks, and drill rigs inside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The Forest Service released a Draft Record of Decision in December 2014 approving a proposal by American Independence Mines and Minerals (AIMMCO) to perform the industrial-scale mining claim validation work…
July 11, 2016
CuMo Mining Exploration Project
Case: Idaho Conservation League et al VS U.S. Forest Service
Advocates for the West is continuing to fight the CuMo Mining Exploration Project in the Boise River watershed. In 2011, we successfully challenged the Forest Service’s approval of CuMo’s intensive plan to build roads, drill pads, and waste pits and to conduct 24/7 drilling in the headwaters of Grimes Creek, a tributary to Mores Creek…
May 26, 2016
Steens Mountain Wind Development
Case: 3:12-cv-596-MO (D.Oregon)
On behalf of the Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Audubon Society of Portland, Advocates for the West challenged the BLM’s approval of a lengthy transmission line across southeastern Oregon’s Steens Mountain, one of the jewels of the West. The North Steens transmission line would facilitate construction of an industrial-scale wind power project on a private…
March 28, 2016
Protecting Selway Wild and Scenic Values
Case: IRU & Morgan and Olga Wright v. District Ranger Joe Hudson & USFS
On May 19, 2015, Advocates for the West filed a complaint on behalf of Idaho Rivers United against District Ranger Joe Hudson and the United States Forest Service for unlawfully designating forest road 652 on the Nez Perce National Forest as a “public road.” This designation would allow the Idaho Department of Lands to utilize…
October 7, 2015
Big Wood River Flows
Case: In the Matter of Application for Permits Nos. 37-22682 & 37-22852 in the name of Innovative Mitigation Solutions, LLC
Advocates for the West is working with the Idaho Conservation League (ICL) to protect flows on Idaho’s famous Big Wood River from a private scheme to make money off of unsustainable water use. Innovative Mitigation Solutions (IMS) applied for a water right to divert 154 CFS of water out of the Big Wood and dump…
March 23, 2015
Caribou Habitat Protection Followup Case
Case: Case 1:13-cv-00427-EJL
Advocates for the West is representing six conservation groups in a case challenging the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to cut more than 93% of proposed protected critical habitat for the endangered mountain caribou from 375,562 acres (which was the result of our last round of litigation on this issue) to a mere 30,010…
February 26, 2015
Sonoran Desert National Monument Followup Case
Case: 2:13-cv-01028-PGR
This case is a follow-up to one we filed in 2008 that resulted in a settlement agreement forcing BLM to complete a new management plan for the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The Monument Proclamation determined that BLM could only permit livestock grazing in the area if it was compatible with protecting the natural resources on the monument, such as various plant…
