Recent Cases

Ensuring Survival of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has failed to designate enough critical habitat to ensure the recovery and survival of the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher.

Protecting the Conservation Reserve Program

Without public participation and without reviewing the impacts of its decision the USDA is altering the wonderfully successful Conservation Reserve Program.

Protecting the Sawtooth National Forest from excessive motorized recreation

The Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho designated a system of motorized recreation routes without including the public in the decisionmaking process, and didn’t properly account for conservation values.

Assisting Rio Arriba County, New Mexico in Implementing Oil & Gas Moratorium

Given the dramatic increase in oil and gas development in Rio Arriba County, the County Commission recently passed this moratorium to ensure that it protects its “prime feature — its land.”

Challenging the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Failure to Prepare a Recovery Plan for the threatened Canada Lynx

The Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Canada lynx (Lynx Canadensis) as a Threatened species in the lower 48 United States in 2000 and has yet to prepare a Recovery Plan to direct management efforts and ensure the species survival.

Challenging Government Abdication of Duty to Recover Mexican Wolf

We are working to encourage the successful recovery of the Mexican wolf, by getting the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to re-assume responsibility for recovery it abdicated to the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

Ensuring Sufficient Water Supply for the Colorado River

WELC is working to ensure that the Department of Interior plans adequately for future low flows in the Colorado River so that the river and its resources are not harmed.

Reducing Risk of Climate Change from BLM actions

This campaign focuses on the Southwest and Southern Rockies.

Shining a Light on Dirty Energy & Mining

Acting as local counsel for our allies at the Energy Minerals Law Center, we’re working to recover public records for Diné C.A.R.E. and the San Juan Citizens Alliance improperly withheld by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Protecting our National Forests Nationwide

For over a decade, WELC has led the fight to preserve our national forests by defending the integrity of regulations that dictate how they will be managed.

John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses - Alleviating Damage from Commercial Packstock

This suit challenges the Forest Service’s authorization of commercial packstock uses in the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses in the Sierra Nevada in California -- two of the most popular wildernesses in the lower forty-eight states.

VICTORY! Feds will reconsider protecting the vulnerable chub

Roundtail and headwater chubs are important indicator species for their current and historic habitat in the rivers of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.

VICTORY! WELC Wins Battle for Off-Road Records

WELC has won a two-year battle to gain access to U.S. Forest Service’s data on the damage caused by off-road vehicles and unmaintained roads on national forests around the West.

White House drops forest appeal

The Bush administration has dropped its appeal of WELC’s 2007 district court victory protecting 193 million acres of national forest lands.

VICTORY! Wilderness Protected from Damaging Commercial Packstock Operations

Excessive commercial packstock operations using horses and mules erode meadows, degrade streams, and interfere with the solitude that backcounty recreationists are entitled to experience in wilderness.

VICTORY! WELC Saves Mexican Owl Habitat

"This was a complete victory for the Mexican Spotted Owl," stated attorney WELC attorney Matt Kenna.

VICTORY! WELC Propels New Mexico to Forefront of Global Warming Solutions

The result: a pioneering rule requiring a host of industries – including power plants, oil refineries, and upstream oil and gas development operations – to report both major and minor source greenhouse gas emissions.

Travel Planning in the Southwest

In the Southwest, the Forest Service is planning for the long-term future of motorized recreation. This planning effort will have a profound impact on the Southwest’s conservation and quiet-use recreation heritage. We are providing strategic leadership and advice in this process.

Protecting New Mexican’s Right to Clean Water

Working closely with our strategic partner, Amigos Bravos, the Western Environmental Law Center is pursuing a variety of state-based advocacy efforts to protect New Mexicans' right to clean water.

Challenging Questionable Oil and Gas Leases in Montana

This case challenges the Bureau of Land Management’s failure to conduct appropriate environmental analyses prior to selling oil and gas leases in Southwestern Montana.