WildEarth Guardians
Description
WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit grassroots environmental organization that protects and restores wildlife, wild places and wild rivers in the American West.
It began in 1989 as Forest Guardians in New Mexico, fighting logging and later livestock grazing on public lands. It merged with Sinapu in 2008 to become WildEarth Guardians, and merged with Wildlands CPR and the Utah Environmental Congress in 2013. It operates mainly in the Rocky Mountain, Southwest and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States, with its headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and field offices across the West.
It runs programs on climate and energy, wildlife, wild places and wild rivers. It uses legal action to seek Endangered Species Act protection for threatened species, challenges coal, oil and gas development on public lands, and works to restore rivers and native habitat. It also organizes volunteers for restoration work such as tree planting on public lands.
It is supported by membership donations, private foundations, and government grants and contracts.
Latest news
Camp the Greater Gila: Abundance in Arizona’s White Mountains
Hearts and bellies full, this year’s campout was ripe with connection – with each other, with ourselves, with the land.
22 Sep 2026
The Endangered Species Act Can’t Stop Extinction with Its Hands Tied
A longstanding listing backlog meets a newly hollowed-out agency
15 Sep 2026
My Personal Public Land: Loving Diablo Canyon in Three Seasons
Never has it been more important to stand up for these places that inhabit us
4 Sep 2026
An Earth Day Victory for Wildlife from Capitol Hill
Joanna Zhang recounts her trip to D.C. lobbying for wildlife in the West
28 May 2026
A reminder that the beauty of biodiversity, in all its wild abundance, can still flourish even amid our human chaos.
18 May 2026
Melissa Troutman is Ready for the Fossil Fuel Industry to Come Clean
“I’ve been waiting my entire career for one company to tell the whole truth.”
7 May 2026
Similar organizations
The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit that researches and campaigns on environmental health and toxic chemicals.
The Marine Mammal Center advances ocean health through the rescue, rehabilitation and release of marine mammals, alongside research and education.
Bioregional is a British charity that invents and delivers practical solutions for sustainability, founded in 1994 by Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai.