Western Watersheds Project
“To protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife.”
4 live lawsuits, 17 comments to the agencies, 85 cents of every dollar to the work.
The origin
How they started
Western Watersheds Project exists to get livestock off public land, full stop. Former architect Jon Marvel started it in 1993 as the Idaho Watersheds Project after years of fighting cattle trespass near his own place, and it grew into a regional force with field offices across seven Western states. WWP challenges grazing permits in court using the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act, and fights for sage grouse and damaged streams on BLM and Forest Service ground.
Where the money went, FY2025
The work, and what it cost
Monitoring
$951K, 48% of spendingIdentify damaged watersheds and document abusive land management practices. Report the following: - livestock numbers on grazing allotments - turnout times - abusive grazing - degredation of streams and stream banks -…
Read it as they filed it
MONITORING - IDENTIFY DAMAGED WATERSHEDS AND DOCUMENT ABUSIVE LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. REPORT THE FOLLOWING: - LIVESTOCK NUMBERS ON GRAZING ALLOTMENTS - TURNOUT TIMES - ABUSIVE GRAZING - DEGREDATION OF STREAMS AND STREAM BANKS - DESTRUCTION OF RIPARIAN AND UPLAND HABITAT - DEGREDATION OF CULTURAL, HISTORIC, ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND SCENIS RESOURCES - ILLEGAL DIVERSIONS OF WATER - NEGATIVE IMPACTS TO WILDERNESS VALUES, ROADLESS AREAS, WILDERNESS STUDY AREAS AND DESIGNATED WILDERNESS.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2025, signed under penalty of perjury.
Restoration and Education
$408K, 20% of spendingWestern waterheds project successfully brings the organization’s conservation campaign to teh attention of national press and policymakers.
Read it as they filed it
RESTORATION AND EDUCATION - WESTERN WATERHEDS PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY BRINGS THE ORGANIZATION'S CONSERVATION CAMPAIGN TO TEH ATTENTION OF NATIONAL PRESS AND POLICYMAKERS. IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, MORE THAN 450 NEWS STORIES HAVE APPEARED ABOUT THE WORK OF WWP.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2025, signed under penalty of perjury.
Litigation
$340K, 17% of spendingProtect imperiled wildlife, public lands, and western watersheds through vigorous litigation under the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, Federal land policy management act, and other statutes that protect the…
Read it as they filed it
LITIGATION - PROTECT IMPERILED WILDLIFE, PUBLIC LANDS, AND WESTERN WATERSHEDS THROUGH VIGOROUS LITIGATION UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT, CLEAN WATER ACT, FEDERAL LAND POLICY MANAGEMENT ACT, AND OTHER STATUTES THAT PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT. THE ORGANIZATION HOLDS OVER 4,000 ACREAS OF SCHOOL ENDOWMENT LAND LEASEHOLDS OBTAINED THROUGH COMPETITIVE BIDDING THAT ARE BEING MANAGED FOR WILDLIFE HABITAT AND CONSERVATION PURPOSES.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2025, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
85 cents of every dollar goes to the work
A good sign, not a scorecard: what matters is the extremes, and this is nowhere near one.
$1,698,723 programs, $243,123 management, $59,016 fundraising. Form 990, FY2025.
The people
Who does the work
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at the Western Watersheds Project? Claim this page.
The record
The court record
And 12 more in our case database: a selection we track, not their full docket.
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (9 shared cases), WildEarth Guardians (5 shared cases), Sierra Club (3 shared cases), National Parks Conservation Association (2 shared cases) and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (2 shared cases) and 16 more. Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
The filings
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at or tap the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $1,674,971 |
| 2012 | $449,879 |
| 2013 | $619,686 |
| 2014 | $693,185 |
| 2015 | $753,782 |
| 2016 | $718,469 |
| 2017 | $896,311 |
| 2018 | $931,878 |
| 2019 | $1,008,417 |
| 2020 | $1,338,196 |
| 2021 | $1,316,274 |
| 2022 | $1,526,916 |
| 2023 | $1,705,061 |
| 2025 | $2,073,382 |
From $1.7M in 2011 to $2.1M in FY25, across 14 public filings (none on record for 2024). FY25 is the highest year on file.
The record
On the record with the agencies
17 comments on federal decisions since 2023, each filed under the group’s own name on regulations.gov. The latest on decisions we track:
Year by year
The record, in order
- 1993Western Watersheds Project is formed.the return, formation year
- 2016Western Watersheds Project v. Schneider: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 20182018 to 2024: 13 cases filed, all since closed: Powder River Basin Resource Council v. Department of the Interior; Western Watersheds Project v. Debra Haaland and 11 more.the docket
The other 11
2022, Dakota Resource Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior, closed; 2022, Garfield County v. Biden, closed; 2024, American Wild Horse Campaign v. Raby, closed; 2024, WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Forest Service, closed; 2020, Western Watersheds Project v. Deb Haaland, closed; 2020, Citizens for a Healthy Community v. United States Bureau of Land Management, closed; 2019, W. Watersheds Project v. Bernhardt, closed; 2023, Friends of the Inyo v. U.S. Forest Service, closed; 2023, Colorado Conservation Alliance v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, lost; 2021, Bartell Ranch LLC v. McCullough, closed; 2018, Western Watersheds Project v. Zinke, closed.
- 20238 comments, all to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 20244 comments, all to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 2025Western Watersheds Project v. United States Forest Service: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- Western Watersheds Project, et al. v. United States Department of the Interior, et al.: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 4 comments, all to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 2026Western Watersheds Project v. Bureau of Land Management: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 1 comment to the Bureau of Land Management, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
Rust, a case still in court. Hollow, a filing. Every row is a record we hold: 17 federal cases with the group on the docket, 17 comments filed under its own name. Nothing here is written from memory.
Their ground
The places they defend
Filed a protest against BLM’s revocation of the bison grazing permits
Who’s defending it On the ground · Critical threatMcDermitt CalderaCo-plaintiff in the Thacker Pass litigation that won a 2023 ruling that BLM violated FLPMA in approving the mine’s waste dump.
Who’s defending it On the ground · Threat developingSonoran Desert National MonumentSued BLM over monument grazing in 2013 and again in 2021 with Advocates for the West as counsel; the August 2023 ruling halted grazing authorizations, and BLM’s December 2024 plan allows grazing only in years with above-average precipitation and forage.
Who’s defending it On the ground · On watchAdobe Town WSACo-plaintiff in the federal appeal challenging BLM’s plan to cut the Adobe Town herd management area roughly in half as part of the largest wild horse removal ever attempted in the Wyoming checkerboard.
Who’s defending it On the ground · On watchBruneau-Jarbidge RiversChallenging BLM’s grazing management across 1.4 million acres of the Jarbidge and Bruneau river canyonlands, where it won an injunction blocking ranchers from grazing beyond their permit limits.
Who’s defending it On the ground · On watchCraters of the Moon National MonumentIts 2008 lawsuit produced the U.S. District Court of Idaho order requiring BLM to analyze no-grazing and reduced-grazing alternatives for the monument’s BLM lands, and it later litigated sage-grouse protections covering the Craters plan.
Who’s defending itMost urgent first: open comment windows, then live federal cases, then the threat level. See every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
Across the 9 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 49 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Give on their site ↗SpeakComment and callOpen comment windows and call scripts for fights like these, ready to send.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapStand with the Western Watersheds Project
The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.