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 5, 2015
Salmon-Challis Water Diversions
Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-00216-EJL (D.Idaho 2014).
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…
December 18, 2014
Idaho Water Quality: Fish Consumption Rate
Case: Notice of Intent to Sue
Advocates for the West secured a settlement for the Idaho Conservation League in this Clean Water Act action against EPA. The settlement ensures that inadequate water quality standards in Idaho will be revised to better protect people from exposure to dangerous toxins.In 2006, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) adopted a new “fish consumption rate”, which estimated…
September 29, 2014
Great Basin sage-grouse
Case: WWP v. Kempthorne, No. 08-cv-435-BLW (D. Idaho)
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…
June 23, 2014
Midas Gold Mining Exploration
Case: ICL v. USFS/NOAA/FWS
Advocates for the West Staff Attorney Bryan Hurlbutt represents the Idaho Conservation League (ICL) in this case with the Nez Perce Tribe, challenging the Forest Service’s, NOAA’s, and FWS’s approval of Midas Gold’s “Golden Meadows” mining exploration project. Midas Gold plans to construct drill pads and drill 178 holes to explore for gold on the Payette…
June 14, 2014
Devil’s Corral Water Rights
Case: In the Matter of Application for Permit No. 36-7999 (Devils Corral LLC)
February 27, 2018 – Advocates for the West represents the Committee for Idaho’s High Desert (CIHD) in this water right protest. Devil’s Corral Spring is a 3/4-mile long river that flows into the Snake River just upstream of Shoshone Falls. Fed by the Snake River Plain Aquifer, Devil’s Corral Spring is clean and free flowing…
February 15, 2014
Dynamis Garbage Gasifier
Case: CVOC1221165
On November 19, 2012, Advocates for the West filed a petition for judicial review challenging the Ada County Commissioners creation of an industrial park at the County’s Hidden Hollow Landfill and approval of a lease agreement leasing nearly 10 acres at the landfill to Dynamis Energy, LLC. The petition, which was filed in Idaho state court…
May 1, 2013
Grazing Challenges on OR Fremont-Winema National Forests
Case: Case No. 10-CV-1212-CL
This case challenges the Forest Service’s authorization of grazing on the Antelope Cattle and Horse allotment of Oregon’s Fremont-Winema National Forests thereby violating the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the National Forest Management Act (“NFMA”). A unique, large complex of fens and wetlands occurs on the allotment in the midst of surrounding dry forests….
March 29, 2013
US Forest Service Travel Management Plans Exclude Snowmobiles
Case: US Forest Service travel management plans exclude snowmobiles
On behalf of Winter Wildlands Alliance, Advocates for the West brought a case against the U.S. Forest Service for not managing and regulating snowmobiles as it does other off-road vehicles. In 2005, the Forest Service issued a new rule that requires every national forest to designate what trails and areas are open to off-road vehicle use and…
February 14, 2013
Grazing Allotment EA Challenges in ID, WY, UT
Case: Case No. 10-612-REB
On February 14, 2013, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ron Bush ruled in our favor on all 4 challenged decisions allowing the U.S. Forest Service to forgo conducting environmental analysis on 43 grazing allotments in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. In 2010, Region 4 of the Forest Service renewed grazing permits for hundreds of allotments without conducting any…
February 7, 2013
Highway 12 Mega-Loads
Case: Idaho Rivers United v. U.S. Forest Service
This case challenges the U.S. Forest Service’s violation of its duties to preserve and protect the Lochsa and Clearwater Wild and Scenic River corridor and the Clearwater National Forest from the oil industry’s “mega-loads” of industrial equipment. The Idaho Transportation Department has given Exxon Mobil permits to haul over 200 massive loads of industrial equipment bound for the Alberta…
