Western Environmental Law Center (WELC)

Campaigns

• Canada Lynx Need Greater Protection

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys have long been effective in Canada Lynx protection. For example, in a September 6, 2016 court victory, a federal court ordered the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to reexamine lynx critical habitat (land designated by the federal government as essential to the survival and recovery of a species). WELC also recently obtained a court order requiring the Fish and Wildlife Service to prepare a recovery plan to guide management of the species after a more than 14 YEAR DELAY. WELC continues to demand enhanced protection for lynx and supports the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s proposal for endangered status for the species.

  1,114 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Save Sacred Chaco Canyon from Fracking!

  Chaco Canyon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a sacred ancestral place for the Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblo people. Oil and gas development threatens the area’s rich cultural resources, treasured landscapes, and living native communities while ignoring federal law. Over 91% of Greater Chaco is already leased for oil and gas drilling, and after record-breaking protest comments in March 2018, Interior Secretary Zinke deferred the lease sale of over 4,000 acres of land in Greater Chaco, calling for more cultural study and consultation. But no additional study or consultation occurred. Although BLM quietly deferred parcels within the Farmington Field Office, the agency proceeded with the sale of 30 parcels and 41,000 acres of lands within the Rio Puerco Field Office, still within Greater Chaco and home to living Navajo communities and innumerable culturally sacred sites. The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm and our expert attorneys are committed to fighting in court to save Greater Chaco and its people from oil and gas exploitation and to transition away from dirty fossil fuels. Please help us take a stand.

  2,490 of 3,000 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Mexican Gray Wolves in Extreme Danger -- HELP NOW!

  The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public interest environmental law firm. In 1998 we won our first victory for Mexican gray wolves, by securing the federal government's release of 11 captive-bred wolves in order to reestablish wild populations. In 1998 there were no wild Mexican gray wolves left in the US, and by 2014 there were 109. Today we need your help to ensure this rare and population is protected!

  1,565 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• Protect National Forests from Fracking

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, environmental law firm dedicated to defending the West from oil and gas exploitation. In 2015, the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service authorized the sale of over 20,000 acres of oil and gas leases in the Santa Fe National Forest. Our expert attorneys filed suit in May challenging the sale of these leases and are ready to use the full power of the law to stop the fracking of these public lands.

  1,330 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Demand the best climate science in Washington State!

  Representing several youths who filed a petition in collaboration with Our Children's Trust, the Western Environmental Law Center won a precedent-setting climate change victory against the Washington Department of Ecology. The court ordered Ecology to implement a carbon emissions rule using the best available science by the end of 2016. Governor Inslee's administration has a history of proposing insufficient rules based on outdated science. We need your voice so that future generations have a legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate!

  1,159 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Protect gray wolves from killings by Wildlife Services

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys are ready to use the full power of the law and the courts to protect wolves. In December 2015 we won a case (Cascadia Wildlands v. Woodruff) that prohibits Wildlife Services from killing Washington’s wolves. Join us in extending these protections to wolves in Oregon!

  5,904 of 6,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• Save Chaco Canyon from Fracking

  Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm. Our expert attorneys are ready to use the full power of the law to stop the Bureau of Land Management from prioritizing corporate income over the health of our environment and communities.

  7,718 of 8,000 Signatures

  Created by Natalie DeNault, Western Environmental Law Center
• Stop the Use of Lethal M-44 "Cyanide Bombs" to Kill Native Wildlife!

  The Trump administration recently reauthorized the use of deadly sodium cyanide in wildlife-killing devices called M-44s on our public lands. These “cyanide bombs” were approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency despite inhumanely and indiscriminately killing thousands of animals each year by luring them in by smelly bait. Anything or anyone that pulls on the baited M-44 device can be killed or severely injured by the deadly capsule of sodium cyanide inside. In 2017 alone, M-44s temporarily blinded a child and killed three beloved family dogs in two incidents in Idaho and Wyoming, and accidentally killed an endangered wolf in Oregon. The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm and our expert attorneys are using the full power of the law to stop the use of dangerous, lethal sodium cyanide poison devices on public lands nationwide.

  34,533 of 35,000 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Protect Public Access on Public Lands!

  The Crazy Mountains are on public lands, yet are almost completely surrounded by checkerboarded private lands. Since the early 1900s, the public had longstanding access to these mountains and the U.S. Forest Service has always managed and maintained them as such, until recently. The U.S. Forest Service is neglecting its duty to protect and preserve public access in Montana’s Crazy Mountains. The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm and our expert attorneys will use the full power of the law in court to fight for the public’s right to access the Crazy Mountains. Please help us reopen public trails in Montana’s Crazy Mountains and sign and share this petition today!

  1,033 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Michelle Loth, Western Environmental Law Center
• Stop Killing Wildlife in Colorado!

  Wildlife Services is a federal agency that conducts predator control on private, public, and tribal lands throughout Colorado. Predator control includes shooting, trapping, snaring, and aerial gunning to kill black bears, bobcats, mountain lions, and coyotes. Lethal poisons and chemicals are also used for predator control, imposing a risk to public health and safety. Wildlife Services is expanding this work in an attempt to increase mule deer populations for hunting, although the best available science suggests that predator control isn’t effective. Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, environmental law firm dedicated to defending wildlife in the West. Their expert attorneys are preparing to file suit against Wildlife Services about this matter.

  5,052 of 6,000 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Goeth, Western Environmental Law Center