Hello, my name is John Meyer, and I work as an environmental lawyer in Bozeman. I moved to Missoula in 1999 to attend the University of Montana. While at UM, I started a student group with two friends named Students for Economic and Social Justice. Our coalition successfully organized students and University employees to put enough pressure on the University’s administration to break its contract with Russell Athletic Wear over labor violations at facilities that made University clothing.

I am the first person in my family to graduate from a four-year college, receiving a degree in Biology and Spanish in 2003. After graduation, I worked as a seasonal biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana and Alaska. The agency would drop me off on the side of the road with just a compass and a map. My job was to survey areas of forest and if I found rare plants the Forest Service would not log the area. One day I was surveying for plants in a proposed timber when I found a baby fawn in a dead tree. I realized that this area did not need to be “salvage logged” because it was providing habitat for wildlife. That is when I decided to go to law school to protect our environment.

After graduating with honors from Vermont Law School, I moved back to Montana and to Bozeman. I lived in a yurt without running water or electricity for nearly six years get my nonprofit environmental law firm started. The first major lawsuit I won stopped a $550 coal railroad from taking ranchers’ land in southwest Montana. The Ninth Circuit invalidated the construction permit because the government had not surveyed for rare plants. Since then, I have won lawsuits that have protected over 12 million acres of critical habitat for threatened species, helped clean up dozens of rivers across the state, and prevailed in several constitutional cases protecting all Montanans’ right to ballot initiatives.

I am currently prosecuting the Yellowstone Club and Big Sky Resort for polluting the Gallatin River and tackling United Health Care for federal racketeering. I have spoken about my environmental work at high schools, colleges, law schools, and I have given Continuing Legal Education seminars about my work to other attorneys across the western United States.

Coming from a legal background, I have witnessed how the law can be a powerful tool to stop negative environmental and social impact. I have also witnessed its weaknesses, though, namely its inability to be proactive. I have seen how local government, especially here in Bozeman, can impact our daily lives. Whether it’s property taxes being raised exponentially every year, forests being leveled to make way for development, or water supply running lower every year, I want to be a voice for you. Thank you for reading this and don’t hesitate to reach out.