Photo Credit: USDA

Protect public lands – connect vast landscapes where wildlife can roam

Public Lands

Our greatest conservation opportunity is protecting and connecting the West’s vast landscapes where majestic wildlife can roam—from the largest grizzly to the smallest meadow jumping mouse; where birds can soar and sage grouse can strut; where fish thrive in water that is pure and clean; and where people experience the primal power of the wild.

Yet the federal government and corporate interests have other ideas, and are bent on destroying public lands, waters, and wildlife with increased logging, mining, livestock grazing, oil and gas development, motorized use, and even more roads.

Guardians combats this culture of extraction with connection, protection, and healing, deploying strategies from education and restoration to advocacy and litigation to preserve and restore America’s wild places, wild rivers, and wildlife. We think and act at the local, regional, and West-wide levels: from the unparalleled biodiversity of the Greater Gila in New Mexico to the majesty of Glacier National Park, from the mountain sources of rushing rivers along their flow through the Pacific Northwest, we strive for vast, interconnected landscapes teeming with the diversity of life.

The Status of the Grizzly Bear: Has it Really Recovered?

Five leading experts present their findings.

WATCH FULL VIDEO

Public Lands Program Work

WildEarth Guardians plants native vegetation along riversides once scarred by livestock grazing, protects wild landscapes from disruptive and damaging motorized off-road vehicles, and much more.

Public Lands in Public Hands

Protecting public lands from agencies, Congress, modern-day robber barons, and everyone else who seeks to privatize them

Rewild Lands and Waters

Removing unneeded roads from public lands, maintaining roads that are still needed, and restoring passage for fish when roads block their spawning grounds

Grazing Permit Retirement

A proven strategy to equitably resolve conflicts between historic uses and modern ecological realities

Moderating Motorized Use

Keeping off-road vehicles and snowmobiles off of fragile landscapes to protect wildlife and water quality

The Greater Gila

Safeguarding the diversity and dynamism of the Greater Gila Bioregion, including working with ranchers to retire grazing allotments and return Mexican wolves to their ancestral homeland

What the Heck is Rewilding?

Find out more about rewilding in this blog post from Guardians’ Pacific Northwest Conservation Manager.

read the blog post

Public Lands Press

Groups to Biden: Halt new oil drilling, cancel Trump leases on public lands

Jun 10, 2021

WASHINGTON— Climate, In…

Signing Roxy’s Law moves New Mexico forward

Santa Fe New Mexican | Apr 5, 2021

Thinking about some other Western states’ version of so-called “leadership,” I am grateful for what we have here in New Mexico. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is infamous for assaulting a journalist, attempting to undermine democracy and violating his state’s hunting regulations (at least twice).

Environmental groups sue feds over highway plan through southern Utah conservation area

KSL.com | Jun 4, 2021

Two Utah environmental groups joined five other regional and national groups in filing a lawsuit over an approved plan to build a four-lane highway through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in southern Utah.

Contact

978-701-4343

Tessa Archibald

WIldlife Program Intern

Tessa Archibald is a passionate animal lover with a desire to preserve our natural world and increase respect for all species. She obtained a BS in Biopsychology from Tufts University and is currently working towards a Masters in Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She hopes that an understanding of complex human animal interactions and policy will promote more empathetic management of wildlife across all lands!

Contact

[email protected]
505-660-0284

Joe Bushyhead

Endangered Species Policy Advocate

Joe Bushyhead joined Guardians in May 2021 as our Endangered Species Policy Advocate. Based in Denver, he works to protect imperiled Western species as well as the integrity of the Endangered Species Act itself.

Prior to Guardians, Joe spent seven years as a staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and clerked for the Honorable Tena Campbell at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. He holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law. Before law school, he worked for the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resource Management on, among other projects, a study of Chinook salmon in Idaho’s South Fork of the Salmon River watershed.

Contact

[email protected]

Hailey Zimber

Research Intern

My name is Hailey Zimber and I am a rising senior majoring in Politics at Whitman College. I am thrilled to be joining WildEarth Guardians as a research and community organizing intern for the Greater Gila Campaign. As a born and raised New Mexican, the Greater Gila is one of the silos of wilderness that have shaped who I know myself to be. Protecting the Gila means protecting myself, my state, and my community, and for this reason, this position is especially meaningful to me.

Dustin Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Dustin grew up hiking, camping, riding, skiing and running the vast outdoor sanctuaries surrounding Gallup, NM. Distance running led him to New York City, where he earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University. In 2011, Dustin returned to the southwest to serve as program director for Wings of America- a not for profit that empowers Tribal youth and their families by introducing them to the cultural, spiritual and competitive legacy of Native runners. Under his leadership, the organization has continued to provide elite-level opportunities for talented Native runners while making a concerted effort to create new programs for fledgling harriers of all abilities. Moving forward, Dustin hopes to continue promoting the positive achievements of Native runners while helping foster and test new models for acquainting Native youth with their ancestral homelands.

Francine D. Spang-Willis

Member, Board of Directors

Francine D. Spang-Willis is of Cheyenne, Pawnee, and settler descent. She is a descendant of Chief Dull Knife, also known as Morning Star, and Pawnee Woman. She is also a descendant of a pioneer family who settled in Montana during the late 1800s. Francine received a Master of Arts in Native American Studies from Montana State University and is an Oral History Master of Arts candidate at Columbia University. Her graduate studies have focused on settler colonialism processes and bison and land restoration. Her work has primarily focused on helping others learn about these processes and to evolve them for the benefit of the greater whole. She enjoys hiking, skiing, ice climbing, and spending time with her husband and beagle near Bozeman and their off-grid cabin near the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

Contact

[email protected]
505-396-1752

Tricia Snyder

Rio Grande Campaigner

Tricia, as a child of military parents, spent much of her childhood moving frequently in the U.S. and abroad, but calls El Paso, TX home. Growing up on the banks of the (often dry) Rio Grande and the water scarcity of the Southwest sparked a life-long interest in finding solutions for water conflicts in the arid and semi-arid American West. Tricia received a B.S. in Geography with a focus on human-environment connection from New Mexico State University. Her research while there centered on water management across borders. She spent 5 years working with the Southwest Environmental Center working to protect and restore the wildlife and wild places of the Southwest borderlands, particularly focused on the recovery of the Mexican gray wolf. In 2015, Tricia moved to Washington state to pursue a graduate degree, receiving an M.S. in Cultural and Environmental Resource Management from Central Washington University. Her thesis, which conducted an adaptive capacity assessment of the Upper Klamath Basin, utilized both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She worked for nearly four years on salmon recovery as the Lead Entity Coordinator for the Yakima Basin in central Washington, bringing together a diverse group of interests and perspectives. Tricia joined WildEarth Guardians as the Rio Grande Campaigner in 2021.

Protect public lands – connect vast landscapes where wildlife can roam

Public Lands

The Status of the Grizzly Bear: Has it Really Recovered?

Public Lands Program Work

Public Lands in Public Hands

Rewild Lands and Waters

Grazing Permit Retirement

Moderating Motorized Use

The Greater Gila

What the Heck is Rewilding?

Recent Stories From Public Lands

WildEarth Webinar: Fire and Forest Ecology in the American West

WildEarth Webinar: Fire and Forest Ecology in the American West

Guardians in court defending grizzly bears

WildEarth Webinar: Fire and Forest Ecology in the American West

Public Lands Press

Groups to Biden: Halt new oil drilling, cancel Trump leases on public lands

Signing Roxy’s Law moves New Mexico forward

Environmental groups sue feds over highway plan through southern Utah conservation area

WildEarth Guardians protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West.

Contact

Tessa Archibald

WIldlife Program Intern

Contact

Joe Bushyhead

Endangered Species Policy Advocate

Contact

Hailey Zimber

Research Intern

Dustin Martin

Member, Board of Directors

Francine D. Spang-Willis

Member, Board of Directors

Contact

Tricia Snyder

Rio Grande Campaigner