Western Values Project
“Hold decision-makers accountable for protecting western public lands.”
The origin
How they started
Western Values Project is a watchdog, not a land trust. Founded in 2013, it digs into the ties between public-lands decision-makers and the oil, gas, and mining industries, then publishes what it finds. During the first Trump administration it went hard at Interior secretaries Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt, suing the department for records and tracking the pile of ethics investigations that built up around them.
How they run
Small and lean
We don’t hold a detailed federal filing for this group. Groups this size often file the short form or run below the IRS reporting line, so there’s no budget or crew to show here, and that’s no knock: some of the sharpest local defense in the country runs this way.
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Their ground
The Western Values Project is not on our editors’ record for a threatened place yet. See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
Across the 8 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 50 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
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The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.