Posts from July 2013
Posted in Court Decisions

On July 23, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed (pdf) a lower court decision upholding restrictions on commercial fishing in Alaska to protect the western Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), which is listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The measures, imposed in 2010 by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), restrict the mackerel and cod fisheries in the western Aleutian Islands. NMFS determined such restrictions were necessary to ensure an adequate supply of prey for the western DPS of the ...

On July 23, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released a final plan to shoot approximately 3,600 barred owls (Strix varia) in the Pacific Northwest in order protect the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.


The plan provides that the Service will use shotguns to remove barred owls from four test areas in Washington, Oregon, and California. According to the Service, the barred owl is a threat to the northern spotted owl because it outcompetes the smaller and less aggressive spotted owl for ...

Posted in Consultation

On June 11, 2013, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a guidance memo (pdf) regarding its obligations under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.  The memo focuses on the Corps’ consultation obligations under section 7(a)(2).  Notably, the Corps makes no reference to the Corps’ obligation under section 7(a)(1) to utilize [its] authorities in furtherance of the purposes of this Act by carrying out programs for the conservation of endangered species and threatened species listed pursuant to section 4 of this Act.

Section 7(a)(2) requires a federal action agency such as the ...

On July 17, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, after finding that the plaintiffs could not establish a likelihood of success on the merits, denied (pdf) a motion to enjoin a 28,545 acre vegetation management project that involved the commercial and non-commercial harvest of over 20,000 acres of forest (the "Project").

In 2011, the U.S. Forest Service ("Forest Service") issued a biological assessment concluding that the Project may affect, but was not likely to adversely affect, the threatened bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) or its ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced this week that it will extend for six months a final decision on whether to list the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and whether to designate 1.7 million acres in Colorado and Utah as critical habitat for the species.

In January of this year, the Service proposed listing the Gunnison sage-grouse as an endangered species and designating critical habitat for it.  As we previously reported, the Service subsequently extended the comment period from March 12 to April 2, 2013.  The ...

On June 24, 2013, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana held (pdf) that the U.S. Forest Service (Service) violated section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to consult on the impacts of a vegetation management project on Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) in the Helena National Forest.

Plaintiffs argued that the Service violated section 7 of the ESA by failing to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the impacts of the proposed project on grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) and Canada lynx. The Service argued that ...

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Late last month, the United States District Court for the District of Idaho denied preliminary injunctive relief in an Endangered Species Act case against the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Forest Service, even though it found that "the required rational connection was not made in the [section] 7(d) determination," because declarations submitted to the court after-the-fact provided a rational connection.  See Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, No. 4:13-cv-176 (June 26, 2013) (pdf). 

In 2010, FWS issued a biological opinion and incidental ...

Posted in Court Decisions

On July 1, 2013, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California issued an order (pdf) granting, in part, Plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys fees in Wild Equity Institute v. City and County of San Francisco, N.D. Cal. Case No. C 11-958. In the order, the court awarded plaintiffs just 25 percent of the fees requested. The court had previously dismissed the case as moot, which we reported here.

Plaintiffs initiated the lawsuit in an effort to require the City to obtain an incidental take permit under section 10 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the operation of ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) designated 2,485 acres in Kern County and Kings County in California as critical habitat for the Buena Vista Lake shrew (Sorex ornatus relictus).  The Buena Vista Lake shrew is a small, insect-eating mammal native to the southern San Joaquin Valley.

In 2005, the Service issued a final rule designating just 84 acres as critical habitat.  That rule was challenged, and the Service settled the lawsuit and initiated a new rulemaking.  Pursuant to that rulemaking process, in 2012 the Service issued a proposed rule designating 5,182 acres as ...

Posted in Listing

Today, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) completed its status review of the northeastern Pacific population of white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and concluded (pdf) that listing the species under the Endangered Species Act is not warranted. According to Heidi Dewar, a fisheries research biologist at NMFS, the agency felt that there were more than 200 mature females alone, an indication of a total population of at least 3,000." NMFS determined that the population is neither in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range nor likely to ...

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
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.

Stay Connected

RSS RSS Feed

Categories

Archives

View All Nossaman Blogs
Jump to Page

We use cookies on this website to improve functionality, enhance performance, analyze website traffic and to enable social media features. To learn more, please see our Privacy Policy and our Terms & Conditions for additional detail.