Hello, my name is John Meyer, and I work as an environmental lawyer in Bozeman. I first moved to Montana as a student to attend the University of Montana. There, 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 was the first person in my family to graduate from a four-year college, receiving a degree in Biology and Spanish. Afterwards, I worked as a seasonal biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana and Alaska. They would drop me off in the woods with just a compass and a map. My job was to explore forests for any rare plants. One day, in a burned forest that had been marked for logging, I found a baby fawn in a hollowed tree stump. I realized that this area was not “salvage” but a habitat for wildlife. It was in that moment that I decided to go to law school. I realized that someone had to try and protect our environment.

After law school, I moved back to Montana and to Bozeman. For the first five years here, I lived in a yurt without running water or electricity to focus all my resources on starting an environmental law firm. Since then, I have won court cases that stopped the federal government from taking ranchers’ land in southeast Montana to build a coal railroad, protected over 12 million acres of critical habitat for endangered species, helped clean up dozens of rivers, and more.

I am currently prosecuting ski and golf resorts in Big Sky for polluting the Gallatin River, tackling the largest private health insurance company in the world and the largest hospital system in Montana for federal racketeering, and representing a Native American leader that was subjected to a hate crime. 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 used to help deter 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.