Idaho

Case: Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, and Predator Defense v. USDA Aphis, USDA Aphis Wildlife Services, U.S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management

June 24, 2022 — Advocates for the West and our partners filed a settlement agreement in federal court that will help protect Idaho’s native carnivores through a number of measures. The settlement gives Wildlife Services until the end of 2024 to complete a new environmental review of its activities on federal lands, and mandates that […]

Case: Idaho State Snowmobile Association v. U.S. Forest Service, the Sawtooth National Forest, Jim Demaagd, Mike Dettori

April 14, 2020 – Advocates for the West filed suit to help defend a winter travel plan issued by the Forest Service that regulates snowmobile use on a Ranger District in Central Idaho. The Fairfield Ranger District on the Sawtooth National Forest completed a winter travel plan that allowed for significantly increased public snowmobile use in the […]

Case: Advocates for the West, Charles McDevitt, and Idaho Department of Water Resources protest on behalf of Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands

December 23, 2019 – Advocates for the West teamed up with former Idaho Supreme Court chief justice Charles McDevitt to file an administrative protest with the Idaho Dept. of Water Resources of behalf of the Idaho Foundation for Parks and Lands (IFPL), objecting to a proposed new water right sought by Micron Corp. to divert […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League and Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. U.S. Forest Service

May 4, 2020 — The U.S. District Court in Idaho revoked the Forest Service’s approval of the Kilgore Project and stopped Otis Gold Corp. (now Excellon Resources Inc.) from moving forward with its exploration project. This important decision follows Judge Winmill’s December 2019 ruling that the Forest Service failed to consider Otis’s underground drilling as a […]

Case: Columbia Riverkeeper v. Scott Pruitt, Administrator of EPA

May 19, 2020 — EPA released its TMDL to control heat pollution in the Columbia and Snake rivers. EPA’s plan is further evidence that removing the four Lower Snake River dams is necessary to restore salmon and orcas. March 30, 2020 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the EPA’s petition to rehear this case. […]

Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Perpetua Resources, Corp., et al.

October 2, 2023 — The Court approved settlement of the Stibnite Clean Water Act lawsuit with Nez Perce Tribe recovering $4 million for water quality improvement in the South Fork Salmon River and $1 million in attorney fees and litigation costs. August 8, 2023 — Mining company Perpetua Resources (formerly Midas Gold) will pay the […]

Case: Nez Perce Tribe v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Petition for Judicial Review

August 31, 2021 – The Nez Perce Tribe reached a settlement agreement with the state of Oregon resolving a case that Advocates for the West filed—along with the Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel—challenging the state of Oregon’s Clean Water Act section 401 water quality certification for the relicensing of the Hells Canyon Complex. The Hells Canyon Complex, owned […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Andrew Wheeler

September 10, 2020 – After a six-month wait since oral argument, the 9th Circuit ruled on Advocates for the West’s challenge to the EPA’s approval of the Idaho NPDES Program. The opinion rules that we were victorious on the mens rea issue with the court holding that states must have a criminal negligence standard that […]

Case: Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and Prairie Hills Audubon Society v. David Bernhardt, Joseph R. Balash, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service

February 11, 2021 – U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ruled strongly in our favor on this case, overturning a Trump Administration decision to strip protections from 10 million acres, mostly in Nevada and Idaho, to allow mining in critical habitat for greater sage-grouse. The court upheld our claim that the BLM failed to provide a […]

Case: Anne Hausrath, John Wheaton, Joanie Fauci, Meg Fereday, Roger Rosentretter, Kathryn Railsback, Dale Reynolds, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness v. United States Department of the Airforce

October 1, 2020 — The court ruled a sweeping victory for Advocates for the West in our case challenging Air Force urban military training exercises over Boise and other parts of Southern Idaho. March 27, 2020 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief in this case, as well as our opposition to the Air Force’s […]