Alliance for the Wild Rockies

Activities

In October 2025, more than 3,700 advocacy groups including the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and Earthjustice, released an open letter criticizing President Donald Trump for his administration’s efforts to regulate nonprofit groups’ activities. The letter came in response to a September 25, 2025, memorandum aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability for organizations that engage in political advocacy while benefiting from tax-exempt statuses. The signatories claimed it was a threat to free speech and democratic participation, portraying themselves as defenders of civil society. ²

The AWR, despite being a small organization with limited staff and funding, filed 84 lawsuits against forest management between 2010 and 2024, representing approximately 27 percent of all National Environmental Policy Act-related forest-management litigation during that period. These legal actions are part of a broader trend in which repeated litigation slows down or prevents proactive thinning and prescribed burning initiatives, which are designed to reduce wildfire risks, protect communities, and maintain forest health. While the lawsuits are intended to protect ecosystems and wildlife, the piece suggests that the cumulative effect of such litigation may unintentionally undermine the goals of sustainable forest management by limiting the federal agencies’ ability to act during wildfire threats. ³

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies joined the Native Ecosystems Council and Wildlands Defense in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a decades-long logging and prescribed-burning plan in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, claiming the project threatens wildlife habitats and violates environmental review requirements. In January 2026, the groups gave a 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding a proposed log and burn of the Jarbidge River watershed. ⁴

The Native Ecosystems Council, the Council Wildlife and Fish, the AWR, and the Western Watersheds Project sued the Bureau of Land Management over a vegetation management plan in southwest Montana, arguing the plan lacked adequate detail and environmental analysis about where and how areas would be burned or treated. ⁵

Partnerships

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies is a member of the Anthropocene Alliance, an environmentalist advocacy group that opposes the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ⁶

Financials

In 2024, the Alliance for Wild Rockies received $39,000 from DAFgiving360, the name of the Schwab Charitable Fund, a donor-advised fund giving program. ⁷

In 2024, the executive director of the AWR, Michael Garrity, received $105,808 in total compensation. ⁸

The New-Land Foundation, a grantmaking foundation that supports conservationist and environmentalist groups, arms control efforts, and abortion and a reduction in population growth, granted AWR $70,000 from 2021 to 2024. ^{9 10 11 12}

The Horn Foundation, an environmental advocacy private foundation, allocated $165,000 from 2017 to 2024. ^{13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20}

Leadership

Michael Garrity has been the executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies for approximately 30 years. Garrity has a long history of environmental engagement, including testifying before the U.S. Congress and challenging federal agency decisions in court. ²¹