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Sagebrush Sea:Advocates for the
West attorneys have carved out a leadership role
in protecting the Sagebrush Sea – an ecoregion just now being recognized for
its biodiversity and unique beauty. Occupying much of the Interior West,
the Sagebrush Sea features a largely arid landscape with stunning canyons,
rivers and streams, and an uplands sagebrush/juniper habitat that is home to
sage grouse, antelope, big horn sheep, numerous migratory birds, and a host
of other wildlife. We have set national precedent in challenging public
lands grazing and the myriad other activities that support it – including
abuses of fragile streams for irrigation and stockwatering, predator
killing, and pesticide use.
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Yellowstone-to-Yukon:
Idaho’s portion of the Y2Y corridor has been
identified as critical to native wildlife recovery. Because enormous areas
of Idaho already are protected as wilderness, and the connecting areas are
largely public lands, we have great opportunities to create protected linkages
between the “big wild” areas of Yellowstone, central Idaho, and the Selkirk range
in northern Idaho. Between Yellowstone and central Idaho, key corridors are
in the Upper Salmon River basin, including the Boulder-White Cloud Mountains, and
the Lost River and Lemhi ranges heading eastward toward the Centennial Mountains
of Montana. Our litigation is focused on making Idaho’s wild lands safe and
secure for gray wolves, grizzly bears, salmon, and steelhead.
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Protecting and Restoring Western Rivers:
As the greatest whitewater state in the Nation, and home to
world-class trout fishing, Idaho’s rivers, lakes, and streams need zealous
guardianship. Our Upper Salmon Basin project has already restored streams
in endangered fish habitat, with more reforms underway. Our Clean Water Act
litigation over the years has kept Idaho and the federal Environmental
Protection Agency on track for cleanup of polluted Idaho Rivers. Our Snake
River project has stopped new hydropower dams and reduced pollution, and
will soon focus on wasteful irrigation diversions to improve streamflows.
We are also taking on the Potlatch pulp mill at Lewiston, one of the state’s
biggest polluters.
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Sustainable Communities
photo credit Sara Eddie
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Energy and Sustainable Communities: With
hydropower dams and coal-fired power plants as our major energy sources, the
production of electric energy is perhaps the most environmentally
destructive human activity. Advocates’ growing energy program works on both
the supply and demand sides of the equations. By increasing our reliance on
clean, green sources of energy production (such as wind and solar), and
using energy more efficiently, we can greatly reduce our impacts on the
environment.
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Middle Rio Grande:
Since 1999, Santa Fe attorney Letty Belin and Executive Director Laird
Lucas have pursued federal court litigation challenging status quo river
management on the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico, to preserve the
endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow and restore the natural "bosque"
habitat along the river. This litigation has resulted in
precedent-setting decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth
Circuit, holding that the Bureau of Reclamation has discretionary authority
to reallocate federal project water to endangered species needs, in some
instances. This multi-year effort to restore the Middle Rio Grande
will continue under the leadership of Letty and Laird.
Read the decisions:
April 2002 Decision by Chief Judge James A. Parker (pdf)
September 2002 Decision by Judge Parker (pdf)
June 2003 10th Circuit Opinion (pdf)
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