Advocates for the West

First Trump Administration Activism

Bureau of Land Management Suits

During the First Trump administration, Advocates for the West frequently clashed with the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that administers millions of square miles of federal lands. Advocates for the West also challenged the designation of the agency’s former Acting Director, William Perry Pendley. ²

In 2020, the firm sued to block the administration’s oil and gas development plan for the Uncompahgre Peak region along Colorado’s Western Slope, one of the largest natural gas fields in North America. The firm alleged in court filings that the plan was the result of “political interference” by William Perry Pendley, then-Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management and former head of the Western States Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm focused on preserving property rights that frequently litigates against Advocates for the West. Advocates for the West accused former Acting Director Pendley of overruling local Bureau staff by approving the plan. ²

As part of this litigation, the firm and other plaintiffs argued that Pendley was unlawfully designated as acting director of the Bureau without Senate confirmation and that any decisions issued on his authority were void. In a separate lawsuit, a federal judge in Montana ruled that Pendley was not the lawful acting director of the agency and that decisions taken under his authority were open to legal challenge. ³

In January 2021, Advocates for the West sued to block the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the Northern Corridor Highway, a proposed four-lane highway running for four miles through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in southwest Utah. The firm, representing the environmentalist organization Conserve Southwest Utah, argued that the highway would impact the habitat of the desert tortoise, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, and violate a 1996 agreement limiting development in the Red Cliffs area. The state and local residents argued that the highway was necessary to prevent failures of local transportation networks in the face of expected triple-digit population growth in Washington County, Utah. Advocates for the West attorney Todd Tucci vowed to lobby the Biden administration to reverse the highway’s approval. ⁴

Other Litigation

In April 2018, Advocates for the West sued the Trump administration over a plan to expand oil drilling on public lands that contain the sage grouse habitat. In February 2020, a federal court voided hundreds of oil leases that were issued under the plan. In January 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the court ruling. ¹

Representing the Idaho Conservation League, the Advocates for the West successfully opposed the development of a gold mine that the Trump administration had approved near Kilgore, Idaho. In May 2020, a federal judge revoked the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of the mine, killing the project. ⁵ The firm also sued to block oil and gas leases on lands in southeast Utah that had previously been part of the Bear Ears National Monument. ⁶

In 2019, Advocates for the West, representing Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians, sued the Trump administration over plans to allow the grazing of domestic sheep within the habitat range of bighorn sheep herds in the Rio Grande National Forest. In May 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found the U.S. Forest Service unlawfully disregarded scientific findings and arbitrarily altered the findings of its disease “Risk of Contact” modeling. ⁷

Biden Administration Activism

In September 2024, Advocates for the West joined with the Conservation Lands Foundation and the Wilderness Society to defend the Biden administration’s Public Lands Rule, which came into effect in June 2024, by filing a motion to intervene. Previously, Advocates for the West filed a motion to intervene in response to a lawsuit by Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana challenging the Public Lands Rule. ⁸

In January 2025, the Biden administration approved a settlement between the National Park Service, owners of 11 multi-generational ranches, and five environmentalist groups including Advocates for the West which would see 12 of the 14 existing organic dairies and cattle ranches located across Point Reyes National Seashore in northern California abandoned by early 2026. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) financed the settlement and agreed to pay the ranchers an undisclosed amount of money. Advocates for the West and other groups originally filed the lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the National Park Service illegally leased Point Reyes National Seashore property for commercial beef and dairy ranching. In April 2025, the U.S. House National Resources Committee launched an investigation of the settlement alleging that environmentalist groups coordinated with the Biden administration to shut down family-run ranches nationwide. In February 2025, a group of 150 agricultural workers sued the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy over the settlement alleging the settlement would harm their livelihoods and the lack of transparency and the gag order was not in the public interest. Weeks later, another rancher filed a lawsuit against the National Park Service claiming blocking further leasing at Point Reyes National Seashore is illegal and would do substantial harm to their business. ⁹

In February 2025, Advocates for the West sued the U.S. Forest Service over its approval of the Stibnite Gold Project under the Biden administration, claiming it would, “jeopardize public health and clean water, harm threatened species, and permanently scar thousands of acres of public land in the headwaters of the South Fork Salmon River.” The lawsuit was also filed against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for violating the Endangered Species Act for not protecting several species of fish from the mine. ¹⁰

Partners and Clients

According to Advocates for the West’s 2024 annual report, some of the group’s clients and partners were the Center for Biological Diversity, the Conservation Lands Foundation, Public Justice, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Resource Renewal Institute, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the Western Watersheds Project (WWP), the WildEarth Guardians, Wilderness Watch, and numerous other local and regional environmentalist groups. ¹¹

DEIJ Statement

Advocates for the West has a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) statement on its website. The group claims, “On our journey to be more just, equitable, and inclusive defenders of the West, we are learning to speak a new language together.” ¹²

Leadership

Advocates for the West was founded in 2003 by Laird J. Lucas, a Yale University-educated lawyer who had previously been a litigator with the Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project. In an interview, Lucas described Advocates for the West as “a kind of legal SWAT team,” taking on industry-funded firms “that throw lots and lots of lawyers at an issue. ¹³

Eric Younger is the chair of the board of directors. Younger was the executive director of the San Francisco, California-based Foundation for Sustainable Development. ¹⁴

Finances

According to Advocates for the West’s 2023 tax return, the group had $1,967,865 in revenue, $2,349,079 in expenses, and $1,791,012 in net assets. ¹⁵

Among the donors to Advocates for the West in 2024 were the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the Susan T. Parkinson Foundation, the Perlstein Foundation, the First Interstate Foundation, the Head  and Heart Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Red Wagon Calagione Family Foundation, the Rouse Family Foundation, the Burning Foundation, the Centennial Valley Preservation Fund, the Central Idaho Art Association, the Conservation Lands Foundation, the Firedoll Foundation, the John and Elaine French Family Foundation, the New-Land Foundation, and the Ninneweb Foundation. ¹⁶