Wildlife and Places

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Weedy sea dragon. (David Doubilet / daviddoubilet.com

Stormy Waters: Protecting The Ocean Ecosystem

Earthjustice litigation is stemming the tide against pollution, habitat loss, overfishing and even climate change. Read more.

Preserving Our Natural Heritage
Representing national and local organizations around the country, Earthjustice's legal victories ensure that our wildlife, waterways, and public lands are preserved—not just for this generation, but for those yet to come.

Protect Endangered Wildlife: Through our pioneering legal work, Earthjustice has amassed a tremendously successful track record of protecting America's endangered species.
Preserve Our Public Lands: Earthjustice attorneys and policy experts have preserved millions of acres of pristine wilderness.

Latest Legal Cases

Alaska Roadless Intervention

Earthjustice, together with Natural Resources Defense Council, is representing several clients to defend the 2001 Roadless Areas Conservation Rule in court, once again. The latest challenge to the Roadless Rule was brought by the State of Alaska in the D.C. District Court in June 2011. It focuses on the two national forests in Alaska—the Tongass and the Chugach—but also seeks to strike down the rule nationwide.

San Pedro River Water Use Challenge

Earthjustice represented the Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society in challenging the lawfulness of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion, which concluded that continued, even increased, water withdrawals by the Army for Fort Huachuca, a U.S. Army base near Sierra Vista, Arizona, will not unduly impact the San Pedro River. In May 2011, Earthjustice won this case in the District of Arizona.

Shell Oil's Arctic Drilling Clean Air Act Permits

In March 2010, Environmental Protection Agency issued to Shell two multi-year major source air permits for its exploration drilling operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Earthjustice, on behalf of several petitioners, filed a petition for review of the permits in front of the Environmental Appeals Board, an administrative court within EPA.

Make a contribution

This is worth fighting for.
And you can give it a fighting chance.
Earthjustice is using the courts to protect polar bear habitat from unsound oil and gas development. It's just one of the ways we're preserving our natural heritage, safeguarding health, and promoting a clean energy future. Join us today.

Featured Stories

How The Earth Got A Lawyer

40th Anniversary Special Feature: For more than 100 years, miners, rascals and even Mickey Mouse failed to tame one of America's wildest places. Nature defeated most of those misguided adventurers, but it took the partnership of some plucky lawyers to finally preserve the Sierra's majestic Mineral King. Their pioneering efforts laid the cornerstone of environmental law and gave birth to Earthjustice.

Court Gives Grizzlies Something To Sleep On

In an ecosystem where all life is interrelated and connected, the decline of one life form can precipitate the decline of another. In other words, as the whitebark pine seeds go, so go the Yellowstone grizzlies. In November 2011, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that reinstated Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone’s iconic grizzly bear population.

40 Earthjustice Victories For The Earth

Earthjustice was born amid the national passion that marked the first Earth Day in 1970 and launched the modern environmental movement. Since then, mostly through legal efforts, we've scored hundreds of victories on behalf of the environment. Here are 40 of our proudest accomplishments.

The Arctic: On Thin Ice

In 2011, U.S. scientists confirmed that the Arctic lost the second highest annual amount of ice since monitoring began. It’s possible to slow the pace of warming and melting in the Arctic in the near term by reducing emissions of soot and smog, which would have fast climate benefits.

Crown of the Continent: Taming the Wild West

The "Crown of the Continent" ecosystem is one of the largest undeveloped landscapes remaining in the country, containing some of the most spectacular scenery and intact wildlife populations in the United States. But climate change is now dramatically altering this region, one of America's last wild places.

Restoring Clarity to Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe's famed clarity has been clouded by increased human activity and urban development. But now, extensive shoreline development will be stalled by a court victory brought about by Earthjustice and our clients.

Port Clyde: A Way of Life Revived

Fishermen in Port Clyde, Maine, are modeling a standard that allows them to continue their fishing tradition, while also allowing the fish stocks to rebound.

Restore Stream Flow

Water in Hawai`i is a public trust resource, protected under the State constitution and Water Code. Government agencies, including the Water Commission, have a duty to protect and restore ecological uses, traditional and customary Hawaiian practices, recreation, and scenic values.

Save Our Skins: Congress v. The Environment

The Endangered Species Act is under attack. From Congress. Politicians are risking the future of wolves, salmon, polar bears and more. Read commentary from Wolf, Salmon, and Polar Bear, and learn about the challenges these species are facing.

Oceans: Stormy Waters

Earthjustice’s ocean litigation is working to broaden the federal government's fragmented approach by taking a more holistic view of the ocean ecosystem, a crucial tactic in buffering the ocean against climate change impacts.

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Founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971

Earthjustice: Because the earth needs a good lawyer