Case: Comments on the Draft BPA-Idaho Accord Extension Agreement

September 26, 2018 — Advocates for the West submitted comments on the draft Bonneville Power Administration’s Idaho Accord extension agreement on behalf of Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Rivers United, Idaho Wildlife Federation and Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club. August 2018 — We sent a letter to BPA expressing concern over the lack of public notice […]

Case: Notice of Intent to Sue for Clean Water Act Violations

May 8, 2017 — Advocates for the West sent a notice of intent to sue to a suction dredge miner for discharging sediment and other pollutants in Idaho’s Salmon River without a Clean Water Act permit. Suction dredge miner Donald Smith has applied for a riverbed mineral lease from the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL). If […]

Case: Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Forest Service

July 7, 2017 — We entered into a settlement agreement with the Forest Service to close the allotments to grazing during 2017 and 2018 – and no livestock will be allowed to return until stream health standards for trout and salmon are fully met. October 12, 2016 — We filed suit challenging the Forest Service’s status […]

Case: Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Clearwater v. Cheryl F. Probert, U.S. Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

May 12th, 2016 — Advocates for the West won a federal court order blocking the U.S. Forest Service from moving forward with its plan to build roads and clear cut along Idaho’s Selway and Middle Fork Clearwater Wild and Scenic Rivers. The Forest Service’s plan was in response to the 2014 Johnson Bar fire, which burned […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service

We are pleased that East Boulder Creek will be better put back together for fish and wildlife that depend on it and hope that this case was a wake up call to the Forest Service that similar mining projects cannot simply be exempted from environmental review. October 28 2015 — We favorably dismissed our lawsuit […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League, the Wilderness Society, EarthWorks, Friends of the Clearwater, Wilderness Watch v. Lannom, Keith B., and U.S. Forest Service

August 2, 2016 — the U.S. District Court ruled in our favor, finding that a Forest Service decision approving a mining company’s plan to deploy bulldozers, dump trucks and drilling rigs miles inside the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness violates the Wilderness Act, the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. […]

Case: Environmental Assessment for the Golden Meadow Exploration Project

January 7th, 2015 — For the third time now, the Forest Service has issued a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and proposes to approve Midas Gold’s three-year exploration plan at Idaho’s historic Stibnite mining site. Twice – in response to our pressure – the Forest Service has withdrawn EAs for Midas’s exploration, citing the need for additional […]

Case: Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, and Project Coyote v. Kraayenbrink, Joseph J., and Bureau of Land Management

November 24, 2014 — In response to our lawsuit, BLM backed down from its decision to allow the derby to take place on the public lands managed by the agency. BLM informed us of the decision just hours before we planned to submit our brief asking the Court to stop this year’s hunt. Director of […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League v. U.S. Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries

Advocates for the West is pleased to announce we settled this case against the Forest Service and NOAA Fisheries for failing to complete Endangered Species Act consultations for over 100 water diversions on streams in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho’s Upper Salmon River basin.  The Salmon-Challis National Forest is home to important populations of threatened […]

Case: Idaho Conservation League, and Nez Perce Tribe v. U.S. Forest Service, NOAA Fisheries, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services

June 23rd, 2014 — The U.S. Forest Service issued a letter to Midas Gold revoking its earlier approval of the company’s exploration plans, known as the Golden Meadows Exploration Project. The Forest Service revoked its earlier approval of the project and ordered Midas Gold to halt all work at the site, and that if Midas […]