Diversions

This action challenges Forest Service and BLM violations of the Endangered Species Act in failing to carry out consulations with US Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries over impacts of livestock grazing, irrigation diversions, and other management actions upon salmon, steelhead and bull trout in the Lemhi River watershed of central Idaho.

Files: 

Lemhi ESA Complaint

settlement agreement

The US Forest Service and BLM each authorize dozens of irrigation diversions on public lands in the Upper Salmon basin of Idaho, which is critical habitat for threatened salmon, steelhead and bull trout.  These public lands diversions often are crude devices, lacking fish screens; and they harm the fish by dewatering streams, obstructing fish migration, and "entraining" fish into irrigation ditches. 

Files: 

WWP v. Matejko, 9th decision

We represent conservationist water right holders in the Snake River Basin Adjudication, who are objecting to 294 water right claims for "flood flows" (or "high flows") by irrigators in the Lemhi River watershed. 

We represent a coalition of national and state groups -- including Wild Earth Guardians, National Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and New Mexico Audubon -- in this long-standing litigation over the impacts of the federal Middle Rio Grande water project on the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow.

Endangered Species Act citizen suit against Judd Whitworth and Sulphur Creek Livestock for unlawful "take" of threatened bull trout through operation of unscreened public lands diversion on Mahogany Creek, tributary to upper Pahsimeroi River.

Our experts showed that the Mahogany Creek diversion would likely "take" bull trout through entrainment into the unscreened ditch, which continued for miles as a livestock water trough; and because the crude rock-and-tarp diversion completely obstructed and dewatered the stream, thus preventing fish passage.

Endangered Species Act citizen suit against Verl and Tuddie Jones for unlawful "take" of threatened bull trout through operation of their unscreened diversion on Otter Creek, located on Salmon Challis National Forest public lands. 

We won an injunction prohibiting further diversions until the irrigator obtained a special use permit from US Forest Service, and it conducted ESA consultation with US Fish and Wildlife Service over installing modern diversion with fish screen.