March 19, 2009: Two New Cases Challenge BLM Decisions Across Sage-Grouse Range. Advocates for the West has recently filed two major new lawsuits on behalf of our client Western Watersheds Project, which together challenge BLM decisions that harm sage-grouse on more than 35 million acres of public lands in the Interior West.

Both these cases target Bush Administration decisions that open up the public lands to more energy development, livestock grazing, and other harmful industries, thus ensuring that sage-grouse continue a downward spiral toward Endangered Species Act listing.

The first case targets 18 land use plans that BLM approved in the waning months of the Bush Administration that determine long-term management on more than 25 million acres of key sage-grouse habitat in Idaho, Nevada, California, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. As the lawsuit explains, BLM failed to study the harmful effects of grazing plus energy development and other actions on sagebrush habitat and sage-grouse populations; and it refused to take the steps its own 2004 Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy requires to prevent further declines in this imperiled species.
SEE THE COMPLAINT(pdf 456KB)
READ THE AP ARTICLE
VIEW A MAP OF AFFECTED AREAS(jpg 257KB)

The second case takes on several hundred grazing permits, oil and gas leases, and other management decisions that BLM also issued near the end of the Bush Administration, affecting sage-grouse in the Great Basin region of Idaho and Nevada. The Great Basin still holds one of the last remaining "core" sage grouse populations, but they are suffering from habitat losses and degradation -- which BLM's decisions only worsen. Again, BLM refused to study the harms that these decisions together will have upon the public lands and sensitive species, including sage-grouse.
SEE THE COMPLAINT (pdf 552KB)

March 17, 2009: Join us April 10th or 11th for a short presentation on Sage Grouse, overnight camping, and an early morning, short hike to an active Lek to view the amazing Sage Grouse mating display.
Sign up online

February 27, 2009: An Idaho federal court has ordered that "grazing-as-usual" must end in southern Idaho to protect wildlife following the massive 2007 Murphy Complex Fire. In a ruling issued late Thursday February 26, 2009, Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted an injunction to Western Watersheds Project over BLM grazing management on 36 allotments covering more than 625,000 acres of public lands in the Jarbidge Resource Area of southern Idaho.
Read the press release (pdf 76KB)
Read the decision (pdf 216KB)

February 2, 2009: Washington State Superior Court Judge in Olympia Rules Against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in regard to cattle grazing on the Whiskey Dick-Quilomene Wildlife area near Ellensburg.
Read the ruling (pdf 168KB)

November 22, 2008: Advocates files complaint to protect the Nickel Creek allotment in the Owyhee Resource Area. Grazing at excessive levels on the 75,000 acre Nickel Creek allotment (in southwest Idaho) is harming streams and uplands that are habitat for sage grouse and bighorn sheep. We filed this federal court case to challenge the political favoritism toward the ranchers that the Interior Department has demonstrated in allowing the unlawful grazing to proceed.
Read the complaint (pdf 124KB)

August 11, 2008: Advocates files litigation to protect the Sonoran Desert National Monument from destructive grazing.U.S. District Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams says the Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly downplayed scientific evidence and emphasized uncertainties when it decided not to list the plant.
Read the complaint (pdf 78KB)

July 31, 2008: Appeal targets unlawful agency decision. Advocates for the West seeks reversal of endangered species listing refusal for the Interior Mountain Quail by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Read the brief (pdf 156KB)

June 4, 2008: Interior Department must reconsider protecting rare Idaho plant.U.S. District Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams says the Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly downplayed scientific evidence and emphasized uncertainties when it decided not to list the plant.
Read the decision (pdf 96KB)
Read the AP article

May 19, 2008: Advocates for the West files suit to prevent Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife from introducing grazing on Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area. With no public comment or environmental review. The Wildlife Area is important habitat for the highly imperiled Washington sage-grouse.
Read the complaint (pdf 55KB)
Read the Yakima Herald-Republic article
Related Seattle Times Article:
Grazing on public land: helpful to ranchers, but harmful to habitat?

March 14, 2008: Advocates for the West files to stop the Forest Service from violating NEPA
In numerous forests in California, the USFS is reauthorizing grazing permits without conducting proper environmental reviews or allowing for meaningful public input.
Read the complaint

February 20, 2008: Settlement Reached in Lawsuit Challenging Illegal Sheep Grazing in Yellowstone Ecosystem
U.S. Sheep Experiment Station Agrees to Conduct Environmental Analysis
Read the full article

January 8, 2008: Pygmy Rabbits Get Another Review!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it is considering the pygmy rabbit for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Read these articles for more details:
Rabbit Review (pdf 16KB)
Feds Consider Listing Rabbit (pdf 101KB)
Another Idaho species up for ESA listing

December 4, 2007: Big Win For Sage Grouse!
Court castigates Fish and Wildlife Service for ignoring threats to sage grouse and allowing politics to trump science; orders new review to determine if sage grouse should be listed under Endangered Species Act.
12/15/2007 New York Times Editorial (pdf 16KB)
Read the decision (pdf 101KB)
Read the Idaho Statesman article
Read the AP article