WildEarth Guardians
“To protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.”
4 live lawsuits, 54 comments to the agencies, 78 cents of every dollar to the work.
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.
Where the money went, FY2024
The work, and what it cost
Wildlife
$4.1M, 78% of spendingWildEarth 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…
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.
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…
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.
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.
$4,138,462 programs, $416,291 management, $728,181 fundraising. Form 990, FY2024.
The backers
Backed on the record by 444S Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation, Western Conservation Foundation and Resources Legacy Fund, latest filing FY24.
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. If it’s out of date, tell us. Work at WildEarth Guardians? Claim this page.
Those 20 volunteers are people who decided this ground was theirs to defend. If WildEarth Guardians is fighting for your place too, the matchmaker will find your way in.
Find your way inThe record
The court record
And 21 more in our case database: a selection we track, not their full docket.
Fights alongside Center for Biological Diversity (10 shared cases), Sierra Club (8 shared cases), Western Watersheds Project (5 shared cases), Earthjustice (4 shared cases) and Natural Resources Defense Council (3 shared cases) and 18 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 | $1,782,977 |
| 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.
The record
On the record with the agencies
54 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
- 1996WildEarth Guardians is formed.the directory; the return’s own formation year is 1989
- 20122012 to 2024: 21 cases filed, all since closed: Center for Biological Diversity v. DOI; Wildearth Guardians v. United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspe and 19 more.the docket
The other 19
2023, Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Forest Service, closed; 2023, Colorado Conservation Alliance v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, lost; 2024, WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Forest Service, closed; 2022, Dakota Resource Council v. U.S. Department of the Interior, closed; 2022, Greater Hells Canyon Council v. Wilkes, closed; 2020, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. Bernhardt, settled; 2020, Citizens for a Healthy Community v. United States Bureau of Land Management, closed; 2017, Western Energy Alliance v. Zinke, closed; 2017, WildEarth Guardians v. Jeffries, closed; 2017, Citizens for Clean Energy v. U.S. Department of the Interior, closed; 2021, WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Forest Service, closed; 2021, San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council v. Dallas, closed; 2015, WildEarth Guardians v. United States Bureau of Land Management, won; 2015, Dine Citizens Against Ruining our Environment v. Jewell, closed; 2012, WildEarth Guardians v. Montana Snowmobile Ass’n, closed; 2016, Wildearth Guardians v. Jewell, closed; 2019, WildEarth Guardians v. Bernhardt, closed; 2019, Montana Environmental Information Center v. Bernhardt, closed; 2018, State of California v. Zinke, closed.
- 2016Western Watersheds Project v. Schneider: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 2022Garfield County v. Biden: intervenor, still in court.the docket
- First appears in the grants of 444S Foundation, Wilburforce Foundation and Resources Legacy Fund.the funders’ returns
- 20231 comment to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 2024Oregon Wild v. Warnack: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 5 comments, all to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- First appears in Western Conservation Foundation’s grants.the funder’s return
- 2025Wildearth Guardians v. United States Forest Service: plaintiff, still in court.the docket
- 38 comments, most to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
- 202610 comments, all to the Fish and Wildlife Service, under the group’s own name.regulations.gov
Rust, a case still in court. Green, a funder’s return. Hollow, a filing. Every row is a record we hold: 26 federal cases with the group on the docket, 54 comments filed under its own name, 4 funders whose returns name it. Nothing here is written from memory.
Their ground
The places they defend
Serial litigant over greater Chaco drilling permits
Who’s defending it In the fight · On watchGreen 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 it In the fight · On watchDinosaur National MonumentNamed petitioner against the Uinta Basin Railway over habitat destruction in the basin
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 8 states where they work, the congressional delegations average 46 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 ↗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
The mission is theirs. The backing is yours.