Western Watersheds Project
@westernwatersheds.bsky.social
Protecting Western watersheds and wildlife since 1993. Committed to addressing public lands livestock issues.
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. naturalresources.house.gov/news/documen...
Trump just signed an executive order targeting federal protections for gray wolves and endangered Mexican gray wolves.
Trump Issues Executive Order in Effort to Strip Protections from Mexican Gray Wolves - Western Watersheds Project
For immediate release: September 4, 2026 Media contacts: Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project (520)623-1878, greta@westernwatersheds.org Regan Downey, Wolf Conservation Center (914)763-2373, reg...
westernwatersheds.org
A very positive first step! Bison belong in the American West. www.publicdomain.media/p/trump-admi...
Judge Blocks Trump Admin Effort to Evict Hundreds of Bison From Public Land
The temporary restraining order marked a major victory for American Prairie, which has spent more than 20 years restoring buffalo in Montana.
publicdomain.media
Today, WWP, and partners represented by EarthJustice, filed suit challenging Trump’s 2026 unlawful decimation of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. westernwatersheds.org/2026/09/cons...
Conservation Groups Challenge Trump’s Decimation of Two National Monuments in Utah - Western Watersheds Project
Conservation Groups Challenge Trump’s Decimation of Two National Monuments in Utah Supplemental complaints to reactivate 2017 monuments litigation in DC District Court CONTACTS Perry Wheeler, Earthjus...
westernwatersheds.org
A 48-year old analysis cannot answer what reintroduced cattle grazing will mean for the ecological integrity of this landscape, its watersheds, or its wildlife in 2026. www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environ...
Environmental group appeals ruling in Bridger-Teton allotments case
Environmental nonprofit seeks reversal of decision to permit grazing pending dispute.
jhnewsandguide.com
The evidence keeps mounting. Science demonstrates that killing wolves to reduce livestock losses is pointless, even counterproductive. The livestock industry insists on killing wolves anyway. madison.com/news/state-r...
Killing wolves does not reduce farm livestock deaths, study finds
Adrian Treves, a professor of environmental studies at UW-Madison and co-author of the latest study, said his hope is the study helps guide lawmakers when the next debate over wolf populations arises.
madison.com
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 NPS is considering a land exchange between a private Nevada developer and the park. The exchange would enable the firm to build a road that would allow easier access to a 83-acre plot of land where it plans to develop a small village of homes and retail property
Trump administration faces pushback after looking to privatize land on Yosemite National Park | CNN Politics
A plan being considered by the Trump administration to allow a developer to use a portion of Yosemite National Park land is facing strong opposition from elected officials and conservationists, reflec...
cnn.com
Federal wildlife disease experts who’ve modeled CWD transmission on the refuge predict that feeding in the face of the disease will result in the worst-case scenario for elk populations and elk hunting for the Jackson Herd. wyofile.com/national-elk...
National Elk Refuge plan calls for feeding Jackson Hole elk, even if CWD transmission skyrockets - WyoFile
The proposal leans into hunting to reduce the population to 5,000, but it doesn’t require steps to end feeding, which wildlife disease experts predict is best for the elk population.
wyofile.com
Email U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service right now and ask them to rescind the removal orders and stop scapegoating wolves for livestock conflict.
Tell U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to Stop Killing or Removing Wolves for Livestock Conflicts - Western Watersheds Project
westernwatersheds.org
Listen in, let's talk Cheatgrass. ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/cp/213002310
#86 - The Livestock-Cheatgrass Nexus w/ Erik Molvar
Listen now | The American West is rapidly taking being colonized by cheatgrass. What if the solution was as straightforward as removing the ecological stressor?
ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com
Last week, we filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for violating FOIA in a matter potentially involving high-level meddling in Lobo recovery. It was just one long-overdue FOIA request at stake, but the government seems to be going to extraordinary efforts to avoid coughing up the docs.
They Say Sunshine is the Best Disinfectant
Karen Budd-Falen needs to stop operating under the cover of darkness
westernwatersheds.substack.com
It's great to see responsible hunters starting to rise up to expose this political maneuver for what it is: A ploy to protect the dark underbelly of hunting and prevent common-sense regulations, and a "solution" in search of a problem that doesn't exist.
Right-to-hunt ballot measure's a cruel, anti-wildlife solution to a nonexistent problem | GUEST COLUMN
By Eric Washburn I love to hunt. Every year I try to hunt big game in Colorado and waterfowl in Louisiana. This year, I applied for five Colorado big game licenses — elk, deer, pronghorn, moose and bi...
coloradopolitics.com
These lands need a legal defense, and WWP and allies are preparing to take to the courts once again to defend them. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics...
In Utah canyons, a clash over federal lands – and the future of the West
The U.S. government is slashing two revered national monuments in Utah. What happens next could determine how vast public lands in the western U.S. are managed – or exploited.
csmonitor.com
We're hoping for a decision today on our restraining order to keep cattle out four grazing allotments in the Gros Ventre Range, prime grizzly habitat. wyofile.com/wyoming-stoc...
Wyoming stockgrowers have cows staged ‘in limbo’ as federal judge mulls Upper Green grazing dispute - WyoFile
The decision over whether to let the cattlemen turn their livestock onto Northwestern Wyoming allotments full of grizzly bears will soon be made by a U.S. District Court judge.
wyofile.com
The report demonstrates that ungrazed habitats had greater plant diversity and more abundant meadow vegetation than grazed sites, and contained clear, cold stream water in golden trout habitat. westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/study-find...
Study Finds Ungrazed Sierra Nevada Meadow Healthier Than Livestock-Grazed Meadows
Recovery on ungrazed meadow in the Sequoia Nation Forest shows remarkable resilience to aid golden trout streams
westernwatersheds.substack.com
Bill Nelson has killed another endangered Mexican gray wolf. Once again, authorities treated it as an accident and declined to prosecute. westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/the-trappe...
The Trapper Who Should Know Better
Bill Nelson has killed another endangered Mexican gray wolf. Once again, authorities treated it as an accident and declined to prosecute.
westernwatersheds.substack.com
A recent review of 111 studies looked at the keystone effects of prairie dogs on grassland birds and found 105 different bird species documented using prairie dog towns in some capacity. www.lewistownsentinel.com/opinion/edit...
Public Domain files suit against the Trump administration for its failure to release documents pertaining to Karen Budd Falen, public land rancher, and number 3 at DOI. Support their work if you are able.
Public Domain Again Sues Trump Administration
The lawsuit seeks public records related to scandal-plagued Interior Department official Karen Budd-Falen
publicdomain.media
>> Theresa Harlan, a Coast Miwok descendant who runs the Alliance for Felix Cove — an area in the park where her family had a home until ranchers kicked them out in the 1950s — said the effort to upend the settlement “is just opening up the wound” that had finally started to heal. <<
Inside the bitter war over cows and wilderness at Point Reyes
Dairy farmers grazing cows in Point Reyes were paid to leave, but now they want back in. They claim the park needs grazing to keep a lid on invasive species. The Trump administration is sympathetic.
latimes.com
A new study finds snow droughts could be more than 4 times as frequent than before the industrial revolution.
Scientists link the West’s extreme snow drought to climate change - WyoFile
New study finds snow droughts could be more than four times as frequent than before the industrial revolution.
wyofile.com
Profligate waste and perverse tax incentives are drying up the West’s largest natural body of water. www.hcn.org/articles/uta...
Utah is killing the Great Salt Lake - High Country News
Profligate waste and perverse tax incentives are drying up the West’s largest natural body of water. Utah’s beloved Great Salt Lake is a hotspot of biodiversity and supports a $1.9 billion diversified...
hcn.org
Ten Senate Democrats are accusing the Interior Department of using a routine-sounding policy review to lay the groundwork for stripping wilderness protections from nearly 200 million acres of public land. westernpriorities.org/2026/08/demo...
Democrats call Interior wilderness policy review a ‘ploy’ - Center for Western Priorities
Ten Senate Democrats are accusing the Interior Department of using a routine-sounding policy review to lay the groundwork for stripping wilderness protections from nearly 200 million acres of public l...
westernpriorities.org
An Indigenous-led proposal would protect wolves that cross the invisible boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and honor their ecological, cultural, and economic importance. westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/why-nation...
Why National Park wolves need a Sacred Resource Protection Zone
An Indigenous-led proposal would protect wolves that cross the invisible boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and honor their ecological, cultural, and economic importance.
westernwatersheds.substack.com
BREAKING: WWP just filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the proposed release of livestock into prime grizzly bear habitat this week on four allotments on the Bridger-Teton National Forest that have been recovering and livestock-free for a decade.
Conservationists Sue to Block Cattle Expansion in Ungrazed Grizzly Habitats on the Bridger-Teton National Forest - Western Watersheds Project
For immediate release: August 12, 2026 Media contacts: Erik Molvar, Western Watersheds Project (307)399-7910; emolvar@westernwatersheds.org Conservationists Sue to Block Cattle Expansion in Ungraz...
westernwatersheds.org
>> Here’s a test. I’m going to say a word and you’re going to try and remain calm, read the article, and think about the discussion in it, before you devolve into a fit of rage. Ok, ready? Grizzly. <<
No One Can Ever Just Be Normal About Grizzly Bears
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…
wessiler.substack.com
A California wolf diet study reveals just how thoroughly domestic cattle have displaced native prey on public lands. westernwatersheds.substack.com/p/california...
California wolf diet study shows that cattle are overpopulated
A California wolf diet study reveals just how thoroughly domestic cattle have displaced native prey on public lands.
westernwatersheds.substack.com
The deceptively named “Save Our Sequoias Act” and “Fix Our Forests Act” would weaken environmental review and allow more logging and manipulation of national forests. These bills have nothing to do with national defense and should not be passed as riders.
