WildEarth Guardians
“To protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.”
The origin
How they started
WildEarth Guardians is a western organization that uses sharp, persistent litigation to protect wildlife, wild rivers, and the public lands of the interior West. It challenges fossil fuel leasing on BLM land, defends wolves and prairie dogs and other species the government would rather forget, and is a lead voice in the fight over drilling around Chaco Canyon. When a federal agency cuts a corner in the West, Guardians is often the group that makes it pay.
Every year they sign one sentence and file it with the federal government: “WILDEARTH GUARDIANS WORKS TO PROTECT AND RESTORE THE WILDLIFE, WILD PLACES, WILD RIVERS, AND HEALTH OF THE AMERICAN WEST.”
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Reading every lease sale
$4.1MWILDEARTH GUARDIANS ENVISIONS A FUTURE WHERE IMPERILED SPECIES ACROSS THE AMERICAN WEST NOT ONLY SURVIVE BUT THRIVE, SUPPORTED BY STRONG LEGAL PROTECTIONS, INTERCONNECTED HABITATS, AND A CULTURAL SHIFT THAT VALUES BIODIV...
Read it as they filed it
WILDLIFE: WILDEARTH GUARDIANS ENVISIONS A FUTURE WHERE IMPERILED SPECIES ACROSS THE AMERICAN WEST NOT ONLY SURVIVE BUT THRIVE, SUPPORTED BY STRONG LEGAL PROTECTIONS, INTERCONNECTED HABITATS, AND A CULTURAL SHIFT THAT VALUES BIODIVERSITY AS ESSENTIAL TO OUR COLLECTIVE WELL-BEING. IN 2024 WE HAD MAJOR WINS FOR SPECIES LARGE (WOLVES AND GRIZZLIES) AND SMALL (PUPFISH AND POLLINATORS). IN MONTANA, WE WORKED WITH PARTNERS TO CUT THE WOLF TRAPPING SEASON IN HALF, SAVING THE LIVES OF DOZENS OF WOLVES AND GRIZZLY BEARS (WHO ARE ALSO ATTRACTED TO TRAPS AND SNARES SET FOR WOLVES). WE ADVANCED ENDANGERED SPECIES PROTECTIONS FOR THE SILVERSPOT BUTTERFLY AND PECOS PUPFISH WHILE USING THE ESA TO BEAT BACK LETHAL MANAGEMENT PROPOSALS FOR PRAIRIE DOGS IN WYOMING AND THE HARMFUL IMPACTS OF PHOSPHATE MINING FOR SAGE GROUSE IN IDAHO.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Watching the machines
OUR WILD PLACES PROGRAM PROTECTS AND CONNECTS OUR NATIONAL FORESTS, WILD WATERSHEDS AND STREAMS, AND GRASSLANDS, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY COUNTERING THE LEGACY OF LOGGING, ROAD BUILDING, LIVESTOCK GRAZING, AND MOTORIZED VEHI...
Read it as they filed it
WILD PLACES: OUR WILD PLACES PROGRAM PROTECTS AND CONNECTS OUR NATIONAL FORESTS, WILD WATERSHEDS AND STREAMS, AND GRASSLANDS, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY COUNTERING THE LEGACY OF LOGGING, ROAD BUILDING, LIVESTOCK GRAZING, AND MOTORIZED VEHICLE USE ON OUR PUBLIC LANDS. IN MARCH 2024, A JUDGE RULED IN FAVOR OF GUARDIANS AND OUR ALLIES TO KEEP LARGE TREE PROTECTIONS IN PLACE ACROSS MILLIONS OF ACRES IN EASTERN OREGON AND EASTERN WASHINGTON. IN NEW MEXICO, WE SUED THE FOREST SERVICE OVER LIVESTOCK GRAZING IMPACTS TO THE VALLES CALDERA NATIONAL PRESERVE. IN RESPONSE, THE AGENCY AGREED TO RESTORE KEY FENCING AND ROUND UP TRESPASS CATTLE TO BETTER PROTECT HABITAT FOR THE JEMEZ MOUNTAIN SALAMANDER, NEW MEXICO JUMPING MOUSE, AND OTHER THREATENED SPECIES.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Holding the line in court
CLIMATE & HEALTH: WILD EARTH GUARDIANS ENVISIONS A FUTURE FREE OF FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION ON PUBLIC LANDS, REPLACED BY JUST, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY ECONOMIES.
Read it as they filed it
CLIMATE & HEALTH: WILD EARTH GUARDIANS ENVISIONS A FUTURE FREE OF FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION ON PUBLIC LANDS, REPLACED BY JUST, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY ECONOMIES. OUR COMMITMENT GOES BEYOND ENDING EXTRACTION; IT INCLUDES EMPOWERING IMPACTED COMMUNITIES, SAFEGUARDING ECOSYSTEMS, AND ENSURING POLLUTING INDUSTRIES BEAR FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR HARM. AFTER YEARS OF ADVOCACY AND LITIGATION BY GUARDIANS AND OUR PARTNERS, THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM) FINALIZED A RULE TO END FEDERAL COAL LEASING IN THE POWDER RIVER BASIN OF MONTANA AND WYOMING ONCE CURRENT COAL LEASES ARE EXHAUSTED. AFTER YEARS OF SETTLEMENT NEGOTIATIONS, GUARDIANS REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH TWO FEDERAL AGENCIES AND A LARGE IRRIGATION DISTRICT THAT WILL HELP KEEP THE RIO GRANDE FLOWING THROUGH NEW MEXICO. IN COLORADO, IN RESPONSE TO A PETITION FROM GUARDIANS AND OUR PARTNERS, THE U.S.ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REJECTED THE AIR PERMIT FOR THE LARGEST COAL MINE IN THE STATE.
IRS Form 990 Part III, fiscal year 2024, signed under penalty of perjury.
Follow the dollar
78 cents of every dollar goes to the work
Read it as a snapshot, not a scorecard. Splits move year to year with grants and campaigns, and healthy shops live all across this range.
Backed on the record by 444S Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Western Conservation Foundation and 1 other, latest filing FY24.
$4,138,462 programs, $416,291 management, $728,181 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The people
Who does the work
Took the helm from Hop Hopkins, who drew $178,506 in the final year on file.
Honesty note: leadership comes from each year’s federal filing, so it can run a year behind. This one caught a changing of the guard in the act: the FY2024 officer table lists Hop Hopkins, the return itself is signed by Sean Stevens. Orgs that claim their page can update it same-day. Work at WEG? Claim this page.
Those 20 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If WEG is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Make it 21The record
The court record
And 21 more in our case database: a selection we track, not their full docket.
14 years of filings
Total revenue by fiscal year, as filed. Point at the line for any year.
| Year | Revenue |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $1,782,977 |
| 2012 | $1,929,531 |
| 2013 | $3,043,253 |
| 2014 | $3,290,510 |
| 2015 | $2,975,042 |
| 2016 | $3,630,648 |
| 2017 | $3,914,745 |
| 2018 | $4,394,861 |
| 2019 | $4,988,777 |
| 2020 | $4,529,475 |
| 2021 | $4,580,150 |
| 2022 | $4,661,072 |
| 2023 | $3,989,393 |
| 2024 | $3,862,789 |
From $1.8M in 2011 to $3.9M in FY24, with no missed filing in 14 years.
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (10 shared cases), Sierra Club (8 shared cases), Earthjustice (6 shared cases), Western Watersheds Project (5 shared cases) and National Wildlife Federation (3 shared cases) and 19 more. Same case, same side, on the federal docket.
Their ground
The places they defend
Serial litigant over greater Chaco drilling permits
Who’s defending it In the fightDinosaur National MonumentNamed petitioner against the Uinta Basin Railway over habitat destruction in the basin
Who’s defending it In the fightGreen River (Flaming Gorge to Colorado)Co-plaintiff in the Uinta Basin Railway challenge over the fourfold increase in basin oil production and up to ten two-mile-long oil trains a day.
Who’s defending itSee every threatened place on one map, and who stands for each.
Across the 8 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 46 of 100 on public lands. See the full scorecard
Ways in
How to help
78 cents of your dollar goes straight to the work above.
Give on their site ↗Show upVolunteer with themFind their volunteer door on their own site.
Find it 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 WildEarth Guardians
30 years on the ground, 20 volunteers, 5 live lawsuits, 78 cents of every dollar on the line. That is who is holding it. There is room for one more.