We WIN for the WEST
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.
US Forest Service Travel Management Plans Exclude Snowmobiles
Case: Winter Wildlands Alliance v. U.S. Forest Service
March 29, 2013 — Senior Attorney Laurie Rule received word that U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush had ruled in our favor. In his Court Decision, Judge Bush specifically calls out Executive Order 11644, stating that the Order – “requires an agency to promulgate regulations that provide for designation of areas of use and non-use…
Grazing Allotment EA Challenges in ID, WY, UT
Case: Western Watersheds Project, Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust and Utah Environmental Congress v. U.S. Forest Service
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…
Highway 12 Mega-Loads
Case: Idaho Rivers United v. U.S. Forest Service
February 7, 2013 — Judge Winmill handed down final judgement in favor of Idaho Rivers United and Advocates for the West, ruling that the Forest Service does has the authority to intervene and protect the Wild and Scenic river corridor and that they failed to do so under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968….
CuMo Mine
Case: Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers Unites, and Golden Eagle Audubon Society v. U.S. National Forest
August 29, 2012 — US District Court Judge Edward Lodge ruled in our favor, finding that the Forest Service was arbitrary and capricious in approving the exploration without first considering the potential for water contamination caused by drilling numerous deep wells in an area littered with historic mining waste. Judge Lodge vacated the Forest Service’s…
Bighorn Sheep — Hells Canyon and Salmon River
Case: Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Forest Service
June 14, 2012 — In a court hearing, Judge Winmill ruled from the bench in favor of protecting bighorn sheep on the Payette National Forest. The Forest Service had decided in 2010 to close almost 70% of the Payette National Forest to domestic sheep grazing to protect the native bighorn populations in the area from…
Forest Service grazing categorical exclusions
Case: Western Watersheds Project, et al. v. U.S. Forest Service
November 11, 2010 — After the parties partially settled this case, the Forest Service still tried to move the remainder of Plaintiffs’ case from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California. In a short but sweet Order, the Court denied this motion and retained the case. May 30, 2008 — We…
Fossil Creek
Case: Center for Biological Diversity v. Heather Provencio, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled in our favor in the Fossil Creek case challenging a U.S. Forest Service plan to allow livestock grazing in habitat for the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog in central Arizona’s Coconino National Forest. The court held that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act…
Atlanta Gold
Case: Idaho Conservation League and Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Atlanta Gold Corporations
July 19, 2012 — Advocates for the West received a strong decision from US District Court Judge Williams in our case against Atlanta Gold Corporation for its ongoing pollution of the treasured Boise River watershed. Judge Williams ordered Atlanta Gold Corp. to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act by October 31, 2012 and…
Atlanta Mine
Case: Snake River Basin Adjudication subcases 63-2446 et seq.
Atlanta, Idaho is a small town that once saw extensive mining operations; but all commercial mining stopped by 1963 when the ore played out. Recently, a mining company has proposed to develop a large, cyanide heap-leach mine at the Atlanta site, which is located on the Middle Fork of the Boise River — the headwaters…
Mega-loads on Highway 12
Case: Linwood Laughy et al. v. Conocophillips, Emmert International, and Idaho Transportation Department
As a result of our work, the Conoco transport was delayed for five months and only 1 of the 207 loads envisioned by Exxon traveled on Highway 12. Exxon was forced to cut the remaining loads in half and transport them along other routes. February 23, 2011 — Advocates for the West has filed a…
