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CHRONOLOGY OF SUCCESS - 2007
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November 2007 - In our latest court victory to protect Rocky Mountain bighorn
sheep, US District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered that the Allison-Berg allotment near
the Salmon River be closed to sheep grazing this year – rejecting rancher challenges
to the science showing that domestic sheep grazing on public lands transmit fatal diseases
to bighorn.
Settlement requires Forest Service and BLM to conduct environmental analysis of impacts
on many sensitive species from continued operation of a “sheep research station” in the
Centennial Mountains near the Idaho-Montana border.
Clients: Western Watersheds Project; Center for Biological Diversity.
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October 2007 - In a 120-page ruling after a four week trial, an Administrative Law
Judge with the Department of Interior agreed with us that BLM violated range management
science and allowed unacceptable ecological harm in authorizing livestock grazing on the
72,000-acre Nickel Creek allotment in southwestern Idaho. This ruling may affect dozens of
allotments around the West, where BLM has similarly allowed excessive grazing to imperil
wildlife habitats and water quality.
Clients: Western Watersheds Project; Idaho Bird Hunters Ass’n.
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September 2007 - US District Judge Edward Lodge reversed Fish and Wildlife
Service’s rejection of our client’s Endangered Species Act listing petition for
the pygmy rabbit – North America’s smallest rabbit, which is imperiled by declining
sagebrush habitat in Idaho and other states. The court ruled that the Service
misapplied the ESA’s standards for evaluating listing petitions; and gave the
agency 90 days to issue a new determination.
Client: Western Watersheds Project.
Following up on our prior injunctions to protect endangered Selkirk Mountains
woodland caribou from snowmobile impacts in the Idaho Panhandle, the Colville
National Forest in eastern Washington agreed to alter its winter recreation plan
to strictly limit motorized access to caribou habitat on that neighboring forest.
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August 2007 - After we filed a new injunction motion aimed at protecting Rocky
Mountain bighorn sheep in Hells Canyon and the Salmon River, Forest Service and
permittees agreed to close a “sheep driveway” through bighorn habitat on the Payette
National Forest this fall.
Settlement under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires BLM to disclose public
documents about grazing management in Nevada without charging costs of searching for the
documents, when BLM wrongly claimed that our non-profit client was engaged in “commercial”
activities.
Client: Western Watersheds Project.
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July 2007 - Settlement of Clean Air Act lawsuit requires EPA to evaluate the
air quality impacts of emissions from the massive Potlatch pulp mill in Lewiston.
Clients: Idaho Conservation League; concerned residents.
Advocates for the West’s Executive Director Laird J. Lucas is named one of just
six “Mountain States Super-Lawyers” for environmental litigation in the region.
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June 2007 - In a scathing decision, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill held
that the Bush Administration violated several federal laws in adopting new regulations
for grazing on 160 million acres of public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management,
finding that the new regulations would gut environmental protections and eliminate public
involvement. The court permanently set aside the new regulations, thus leaving in place
the 1995 “Rangeland Reform” regulations adopted by the Clinton Administration.
Client: Western Watersheds Project.
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May 2007 - Our lawsuit and injunction motion forced Forest Service to close
five “high risk” domestic sheep grazing allotments in Hells Canyon and Salmon River to
protect Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from coming into contact with domestic sheep,
which transmit fatal diseases to the bighorns.
Clients: Western Watersheds Project; Hells Canyon Preservation Council; The Wilderness Society.
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April 2007 - Advocates for the West filed federal court brief detailing
Bush Administration’s political interference in preventing greater sage-grouse from
being protected under Endangered Species Act, despite precipitous population losses
caused by grazing, oil and gas, agriculture, weed invasions and other threats.
Client: Western Watersheds Project.
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March 2007 - Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved plans to allow Idaho Power
to “decouple” its rates from efficiency savings, and setting efficiency performance
incentives – both good decision promoting energy efficiency in Idaho.
Clients: NRDC; NW Energy Coalition.
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February 2007 - Following a week-long trial in which we presented expert
evidence about the harms that snowmachines cause to the endangered woodland caribou
in the Selkirk Mountains, US District Judge Whalley in Spokane issued a sweeping ruling
that the Forest Service is violating the Endangered Species Act in failing to protect
woodland caribou from snowmachines. The court also issued an expanded injunction closing
most of the caribou recovery zone to protect caribou.
Clients: Defenders of Wildlife, Idaho Conservation League, Selkirk Conservation Alliance,
Conservation Northwest, others
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