Today's the day where the rubber meets the road! WWP is proud to be a lead plaintiff in each of these cases, represented by Western Environmental Law Center.
Tune in beginning at 9:30 am MT: https://tinyurl.com/wolfhearings
As we mark Indigenous Peoples Day, we renew the call for conservation to reckon with its colonial past, honor Indigenous sovereignty, and work alongside Native communities toward a more just future.
https://westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/of-indigenous-peoples-environmentalism
“The demonstrations in Lochiel against the border wall are about exactly this: the border walls are devastating to the ecological and social functions of the border region,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “Animals like Flor demonstrate the need to protect the remaining intact habitats from further destruction and harmful land uses.”
“Habitat modification is the primary reason for [ESA] listing,” Zellmer wrote in her 2026 American Bar Association journal paper. “If modifying habitat is no longer a ‘take,’ the ESA itself would be rendered incapable of satisfying Congress’ goal: ‘to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost.’”
https://wyofile.com/tweak-to-endangered-species-act-could-allow-widespread-development/
99% of public comments on the Trump administration’s plan to rewrite the Forest Service’s Travel Management Rule oppose the change, according to a new analysis from the Center for Western Priorities.
WWP and Basin & Range Watch have filed a protest against the proposed, 5,133-acre photovoltaic and lithium battery, Bonanza Solar Project on public lands in high-quality, intact Mojave desert tortoise habitat, 70 miles north of Las Vegas.
Imagine if every lot bulldozed for another strip mall in Las Vegas were simply allowed to bury Mojave desert tortoises, with no mitigation measures required to limit the amount of incidental take, all because no one could prove killing them was the primary purpose. The Scalia interpretation is Orwellian, but here we are: “Man serves the interests of no creature except himself.” (Animal Farm)
https://westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/go-ahead-and-kill-endangered-species
No Mollies killed, which is good news. Other wolves die for trophy hunting, which is terrible news.
The need for a Sacred Resource Protection Zone remains obvious.
The FWS’s own data show the Mexican gray wolves have not reached the population stability required for their endangered status to be revised in any capacity.
https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2026/09/17/mexican-gray-wolf-arizona/
The parcel contains plentiful Mojave yuccas, and habitat for desert tortoises, kit foxes, burrowing owls, Gila monsters and other wildlife.
https://www.fox5vegas.com/2026/09/10/blm-finalizes-94m-land-sale-city-las-vegas-6000-home-community/
The Bureau of Land Management neglected to consider a thriving natural ecological balance when it made its unsupported decision to reduce wild horse numbers in the HMAs. Cattle out number horses by significant margins and their impacts are far greater in scope and scale. These are Horse Management Areas, not Cow Management Areas, and they should be managed accordingly.
“The Trump administration’s meddling in the structure and function of the U.S. Forest Service, and closure of Regional Offices and research facilities, will impair the management of our National Forests and National Grasslands, and undermine the legal safeguards that protect public lands and wildlife,” said Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project executive director.
A new poll shows Utah voters overwhelmingly support restoring protections to all of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. See the results: https://bit.ly/UtahMonumentsPoll2026
BREAKING: WWP is proud to be joining four unions representing U.S. Department of Agriculture employees, and other nonprofit organizations and cities and counties from across the country, in new lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to stop the Trump administration from implementing an unlawful reorganization of the department.
https://westernwatersheds.org/2026/09/unions-lead-filing-of-new-lawsuit-to-stop-usda-reorganization/
Yesterday, Members of Congress sent letters to Western Watersheds Project and 18 other environmental groups announcing the launch of an investigation into our work to protect public lands, wildlife and through the courts.
https://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=419038
Tucson is home to WWP staff, colleagues, friends and supporters. We grieve with our community and stand unequivocally with its LGBTQ+ members.
No one should fear violence because of who they are. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently has two removal orders for imperiled Mexican gray wolves due to ongoing conflicts with livestock. It is obvious from the removal orders that these ranching operations have chronic wolf conflicts, which could mean their own management practices are partially to blame. Wolves should not be killed or permanently removed from their homelands on public lands for livestock conflict.
So prairie-dog shooting, killing contests, hunting mountain lions with packs of dogs, wolf shooting, all forms of trapping (potentially even using M-44 'cyanide bombs'), bear baiting, would all be guaranteed as a constitutional right.
As this op-ed from a Colorado hunter points out, the ballot initiative in that state seeks to take all forms of "traditional" hunting and trapping and make them a constitutional right, preventing CPW from imposing any limits and potentially upending past bans on some of the most extreme and objectionable practices.