On July 8, 2010, Advocates for the West appealed a BLM-planned horse roundup and removal in northeastern Nevada.  In the Tuscarora Roundup, BLM is planning on rounding up and removing over 1,200 wild free-roaming horses from the public lands.  The roundup is set to occur within days of "peak foaling season" and during the middle of the summer heat, which BLM has acknowledged may harm wild horses, especially new foals and pregnant mares.  Advocates for the West is representing leading animal rights advocates In Defense of Animals, and Nevada-based ecologist Craig Downer.  Please see attached appeal for more information.

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Great news!  We've received a preliminary win on one of our most bizarre cases - our challenge to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) cancellation of a grazing permit for reasons related to failing to graze enough. 

The grazing permit is associated with the Greenfire Preserve on the East Fork of the Salmon River, home to salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act and spectacular wildlife and scenery.  The permit is held by Valley Sun, LLC and managed by Western Watersheds Project (WWP), both represented by Advocates attorney Kristin F. Ruether. 

BLM's attempt to cancel the permit came despite the fact that BLM admits that the rest from grazing has allowed significant habitat recovery.

An Administrative Law Judge agreed with Advocates that the permit must not be cancelled during the pendency of the case.  The judge relied upon a report prepared by pro bono geologist Don Clarke demonstrating the possibility of harm from grazing on the allotments' steep terrain.  In contrast, any "harm" to BLM from resting the allotments was speculative and insubstantial.

Many thanks to geologist Don Clarke for preparation of his critical report, and to Brian Ertz, Debra Ellers and Dale Grooms of WWP for additional extensive monitoring.  Thank you!

On June 1, 2010, Advocates put the BLM on notice that its authorization of livestock grazing on the Mud Springs Allotment in southwestern Idaho is violating the Endangered Species Act.  Advocates recently discovered that BLM is refusing to consult with the expert scientists within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the impacts that grazing is having on the threatened Slickspot peppergrass, and, instead, is entering private agreements with ranchers to delay consulting with agency scientists.  By allowing grazing without first consulting with agency scientists, BLM is violating the ESA, and Advocates intends to hold BLM accountable.  This is likely the first of many incidences of BLM's blatant violation of the ESA.  Stay tuned.

In a landmark decision, Administrative Law Judge Harvey C. Sweitzer has granted Advocates' motion to stop the construction of new fences on Wyoming's Green Mountain Common allotment.  As one of the largest unfenced areas in the lower 48 states, the Green Mountain Common provides unique open space and crucial habitat for wildlife, including the imperiled greater sage-grouse. 

ALJ Sweitzer agreed with Advocates that BLM likely violated the National Environmental Policy Act by approving the fences without addressing their negative impacts.  He emphasized that a stay is appropriate because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that the greater sage-grouse "warrants" protection under the Endangered Species Act.

ALJ Sweitzer's decision is significant because it is the first time that a judicial body has enjoined BLM from undertaking an activity harmful to sage-grouse on the basis of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's March 2010 "warranted" determination.

Advocates is proud to represent Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, and several individuals is this on-going matter.

 The Thurston County Superior Court ruled that WDFW’s action in approving the latest Asotin grazing permit was arbitrary and capricious, noting that the agency had disregarded its own scientists’ concerns about wildlife. 

On February 3, 2010, Advocates for the West sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its violation of the Endangered Species Act in refusing to determine if the pygmy rabbit warrants protection under the ESA. This case is now the third time we have had to sue the Service for its continued and repeated violations of the ESA with respect to our efforts to protect the pygmy rabbit.

Back in 2007, a federal court ordered the Service to determine whether pygmy rabbits needed protection under the ESA, which the Service has failed to do.  In the meantime, scientific evidence continues to mount, which shows that rabbit populations and habitat are continuing a downward spiral toward extinction.  This lawsuit is seeking to force the Service to acknowledge this science, and protect the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act.

In another precedent setting decision, the Idaho federal court ruled that BLM violated its grazing regulations by authorizing livestock grazing on the 70,000-acre Nickel Creek allotment in the Owyhee Plateau of southwestern Idaho without imposing mandatory terms to protect streams and fish and wildlife habitat.  This ruling followed a 4-week trial in which an Administrative Law Judge found that BLM failed to follow basic scientific principles in its grazing management on the Nickel Creek allotment, despite extensive degradation caused by too many cows on the allotment. 

Idaho settles anti-discrimination lawsuit agreeing to pay legal fees and revise rules governing leasing of state endowment trust lands to not discriminate against bids to use the lands for conservation.

Staff attorney Laurie Rule has just filed an emergency motion for an injunction to stop BLM from allowing domestic sheep turnout on the Partridge Creek allotment, because of dangers posed to the last remaining native Bighorn Sheep population in the Salmon River area of central Idaho.

Our litigation previously forced the Forest Service to close several domestic sheep allotments in the surrounding Payette and Nez Perce National Forests, based on agency and independent science showing that bighorn sheep can catch fatal diseases from domestic sheep.  Yet the BLM refuses to follow the Forest Service's lead, and is allowing sheep grazing to continue on the Partridge Creek allotment.

An injunction hearing is set for 9:30 AM on October 6, 2009, in federal court in Pocatello. 

THREE NEW CASES FILED TO PROTECT PAHSIMEROI AND LEMHI WATERSHEDS.

Advocates for the West filed three new cases in June and July 2009 for client Western Watersheds Project, suing the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over their legal violations in managing public lands in the Pahsimeroi and Lemhi watersheds of central Idaho.  

The Pahsimeroi and Lemhi watersheds offer vital habitat for endangered fish -- including salmon, steelhead and bull trout -- as well as sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, and other sagebrush species.  Yet the federal agencies continue to authorize livestock grazing and grazing-related water developments and diversions without accounting for the harms they cause to these imperiled species and their habitats.  These three cases are the first of a suite of lawsuits aimed at improving habitat conditions in the Upper Salmon basin.  

 The recently published article linked below aptly points out the hypocrisy of Western Senators 'self-reliant' talking points and subsidy based policy decisions.

The 18 land use plans that BLM approved in the waning months of the Bush Administration 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.

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.