We Defend the West
Defending Wildlands | Protecting Wildlife | Safeguarding Climate
The Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to safeguard the public lands, wildlife, and communities of the American West in the face of a changing climate. We envision a thriving, resilient West, abundant with protected public lands and wildlife, powered by clean energy, and defended by communities rooted in an ethic of conservation.
We Defend the West
Defending Wildlands | Protecting Wildlife | Safeguarding Climate
The Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to safeguard the public lands, wildlife, and communities of the American West in the face of a changing climate. We envision a thriving, resilient West, abundant with protected public lands and wildlife, powered by clean energy, and defended by communities rooted in an ethic of conservation.
We Defend the West
Defending Wildlands
Protecting Wildlife
Safeguarding Climate
The Western Environmental Law Center uses the power of the law to safeguard the public lands, wildlife, and communities of the American West in the face of a changing climate. We envision a thriving, resilient West, abundant with protected public lands and wildlife, powered by clean energy, and defended by communities rooted in an ethic of conservation.
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EXPLORE WAYS TO GIVE
Defending Wildlands
The American West is defined by its natural heritage of wildlands, rivers, forests, and wildlife. Since its inception, WELC has worked hard to preserve and restore these unique characteristics.
Protecting Wildlife
The American West depends on its iconic wildlife. WELC protects native animals while preserving and restoring the healthy, functioning natural ecosystems they call home.
Safeguarding Climate
Our world is warming, with dire consequences to the American West’s communities, lands, rivers, and wildlife. But, as the saying goes, in every crisis lies opportunity.
New York Times: “Susan Jane is my hero”
WELC is committed to sustainable forest management, which requires moving through conflict between otherwise entrenched interests with dialogue and science. Susan Jane Brown and Pam Hardy have fought old-growth logging while improving forest wildfire resilience and helping rural communities in eastern Oregon and beyond. Read about their “cabinet of rivals” approach to collaborative forest management in this New York Times piece.
Groups to Biden: Halt new oil drilling, cancel Trump leases on public lands
Climate, indigenous and conservation groups today called on the Biden administration to halt new drilling permits and to cancel unlawful Trump-era oil and gas leases on public lands. The letter urges the Interior Department to enact a range of interim actions to...
Montana joins states seeking to insert themselves into Juliana v. United States as adversaries of youth plaintiffs
Six years after attorneys filed the landmark constitutional climate change case Juliana v. United States – and just days before settlement talks were scheduled between the youth plaintiffs and the government – attorneys general from 17 states, including Montana, have...
NM state trust lands bonding report reveals monumental oil and gas industry clean-up assurance shortfall
The New Mexico State Land Office released a report today enumerating the degree to which New Mexico’s oil and gas industry has failed to assure payment for its responsibilities to plug and reclaim wells and other industry sites: a staggering gap of $8.1 billion. The...
