Wyoming

Sage-Grouse Land Use Plans

Sage-Grouse Land Use Plans

Case: Center for Biological Diversity, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Rocky Mountain Wild, Sierra Club, Western Watersheds Project, and WildEarth Guardians vs. Bureau of Land Management

March 2, 2026 — Advocates for the West and our conservation partners sued the Bureau of Land Management to challenge its final plans governing greater sage-grouse management across 71 million acres of federal public lands in nine Western states. The lawsuit covers the dwindling species’ habitat in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, […]

Public Lands Sale FOIA Violations

Public Lands Sale FOIA Violations

Case: The Wilderness Society v. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

January 6, 2026 — Representing The Wilderness Society, Advocates for the West filed a federal lawsuit seeking to compel the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to release records related to a joint federal initiative targeting the sale of public lands […]

State and Industry Challenges to Public Lands Rule

State and Industry Challenges to Public Lands Rule

Case: States of Utah and Wyoming v. Deb Haaland, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Conservation Lands Foundation, and The Wilderness Society

October 1, 2024 — Advocates for the West and our partners at Conservation Lands Foundation, The Wilderness Society, and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance filed a motion to intervene to defend BLM’s Public Lands Rule against yet another lawsuit brought this past summer by the American Farm Bureau and other industry trade associations representing the oil […]

Bureau of Land Management Rangeland Degradation

Bureau of Land Management Rangeland Degradation

Case: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Western Watersheds Project v. Debra Haaland, Tracy Stone-Manning, and U.S. Bureau of Land Management

September 13, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its failure to abide by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act to determine the prioritization and timing of environmental analyses for livestock grazing allotments on public […]

Converse County Oil & Gas Drilling

Converse County Oil & Gas Drilling

Case: Powder River Basin Resource Council and Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Bureau of Land Management

February 27, 2026 — A federal district court ruled that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not follow the law when it approved the massive, 5,000-well Converse County Oil & Gas Project in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, finding that the agency failed to properly study reasonable alternatives that might reduce environmental harm—such as slowing […]

Rangeland Pesticide Spraying

Rangeland Pesticide Spraying

Case: Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Center for Biological Diversity v. Kevin Shea and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

August 22, 2025 — U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernandez issued a final judgment holding that APHIS must prepare new environmental analysis that provides the public with more details on its future spraying plans and that APHIS must evaluate non-toxic spraying alternatives to control native grasshopper populations. June 23, 2025 — U.S. District Judge Marco […]

Oil & Gas Leases in Sage-Grouse Habitat

Oil & Gas Leases in Sage-Grouse Habitat

Case: Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity v. Ryan K. Zinke, David Bernhardt; and BLM

January 17, 2025 — Advocates for the West won a victory upholding our Phase One win in this case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the first Trump administration illegally approved hundreds of oil and gas leases on public lands and prohibited any further development of those leases. The leases […]

Gas Drilling in Pronghorn Migration Path

Gas Drilling in Pronghorn Migration Path

Case: Upper Green River Alliance, Western Watersheds Project, and Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management and William Perry Pendley

March 14, 2023 — Advocates for the West filed our reply brief on appeal. October 28, 2022 — Advocates for the West filed our opening brief on appeal, requesting that the Court reverse the judgment of the district court and remand with instructions to vacate the NPL project’s record of decision and environmental impact statement. May 10, […]

Sage-Grouse RMP Challenge

Sage-Grouse RMP Challenge

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 […]

Winter Travel Plan Follow-up Case

Winter Travel Plan Follow-up Case

Case: Winter Wildlands Alliance and WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Forest Service

March of 2018 — The Forest Service withdrew its winter travel maps and committed to conduct winter travel planning on each of the three forests listed in our case – the Boise and Payette National Forests in Idaho and a portion of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. We agreed to dismiss the case based […]