Posts from November 2010

Following the release of an incomplete draft of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), numerous stakeholders issued statements outlining their perspective on the status of the planning effort.  Statements were issued by a number of public water agencies that have provided most of the funding for the planning effort to date including Westlands Water District (pdf)Kern County Water Agency (pdf), Metropolitan Water District (pdf), and the State Water Contractors (pdf).  They were also released by other interested stakeholders, such as the Bay Institute and Environmental ...

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) is a long-term conservation strategy designed to improve the status of species and natural communities covered by the plan and provide the basis for the issuance of endangered species permits for the operation of the state and federal water projects in California.  For a number of years, federal and state agencies, numerous public water agencies, and non-governmental organizations have worked to develop the BDCP.  On November 18, an incomplete draft of the BDCP was released to the public amid controversy as reported by numerous news outlets ...

The National Research Council (NRC) announced the formation of an ad hoc panel to review the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).  The NRC explains that "[t]he panel’s review will be related to but be conducted separately from the on-going, more broadly focused NRC study entitled 'Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta.'"  Provisional appointments to the panel, including Dr. Henry J. Vaux of the University of California, Berkeley as Chair, are provided here.  There is a 20 day public comment period on the appointees that commenced on ...

Posted in Listing

The Fish and Wildlife Service recently published an updated list of plant and animal species native to the United States that are candidates for listing as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.  The list, referred to as a Candidate Notice of Review or CNOR, is published periodically by the Service.  A press release announcing the release of the CNOR is available here.  Each species on the list is assigned a listing priority number (or LPN) based on its status and threats.  The CNOR includes five new candidates, changes the LPN for four existing candidates, and ...

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Tags: Listing
Posted in Conservation

In 2008, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration ("NOAA") authorized Washington, Oregon, and Idaho to "lethally remove" individual sea lions that congregate below the Bonneville Dam and continue to eat listed salmon and steelhead after non-lethal deterrence methods prove unsuccessful.  Under the current program, after a sea lion is identified and trapped it is either transported to a new location or euthanized.  Earlier this month, however, a task force convened at NOAA's request recommended that the controversial program ...

Posted in Litigation

On October 29, 2010, the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation filed a complaint (pdf) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California against the U.S. Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for actions approving a 709-megawatt solar project in the Imperial Valley between Octotillo and El Centro in southern California. The complaint challenges the BLM’s final approval of Tessara’s (formerly Sterling Energy Systems) 6,144-acre Imperial Valley Solar Project on BLM land under the Federal Lands Policy and Management ...

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Posted in Listing, Litigation

In a decision that could have profound implications for listing decisions under the Endangered Species Act, on November 4, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia remanded (PDF) the Polar Bear Listing Rule to the Fish & Wildlife Service for "additional explanation for the legal basis of its listing determination" that the Polar bear is a "threatened" not "endangered" species.

In essence, the court has asked the Fish & Wildlife Service to provide the court with its agency interpretation of "endangered species."  As previously discussed here, the Fish & ...

On November 2, 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed (PDF) the Georgia pigtoe mussel, the interrupted rocksnail and the rough hornsnail as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and designated 160 miles of stream and river channels as critical habitat for the three species in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.
The listing followed FWS’s determination that the species have experienced a significant curtailment in their freshwater habitats. FWS attributes the habitat loss to fragmentation and isolation of free-flowing rivers and tributaries, as well as ...

On October 18, 2010, Idaho Governor Butch Otter announced the State of Idaho would no longer manage wolves as a designated agent under the Endangered Species Act.  According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game website, a January 2006 agreement between Idaho and the U.S. Department of the Interior designated the State as an agent for day-to-day wolf management for the Fish and Wildlife Service, but efforts to renew the agreement were unsuccessful.  In response to the Governor's action, the Service issued a press release (pdf) indicating it would once again be the lead agency for ...

Posted in Listing

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a proposed rule (PDF) this week to reclassify the spikedace and loach minnows from threatened to endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposed rule also designates approximately 796 miles of streams and rivers in central and eastern Arizona and western New Mexico as critical habitat for the two fish.

Both the spikedace and the loach minnow are small fish that measure fewer than three inches in length. They inhabit shallow water in perennial streams. According to the Service, prolonged drought ...

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Tags: Listing

Nossaman’s Endangered Species Law & Policy blog focuses on news, events, and policies affecting endangered species issues in California and throughout the United States. Topics include listing and critical habitat decisions, conservation and recovery planning, inter-agency consultation, and related developments in law, policy, and science. We also inform readers about regulatory and legislative developments, as well as key court decisions.

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