Endangered Species Law & Policy

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently published a proposed rule (pdf) to list the Kentucky glade cress (Leavenworthia exigua var. laciniata) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service also proposed (pdf) designating critical habitat for the species.

The Service previously identified the Kentucky glade cress as a candidate species on November 9, 2009. However, it was designated as a Listing Priority Number (LPN) 3. LPNs are assigned based on the immediacy of the threat to the species, as well as taxonomic status. As an LPN 3, Kentucky glade ...

On June 13, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a proposed rule (pdf) to delist the gray wolf (Canis lupus) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) throughout the United States and Mexico. The proposed rule also proposes to maintain protection for the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) in the Southwest by listing it as endangered under the ESA. Presently, the gray wolf is listed in 42 states, including California. 

Previously, the Service determined (pdf) that the southwestern population of the gray wolf – known as the Mexican gray wolf – may warrant a ...

On June 5, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) denied (pdf) two petitions to remove captive populations of the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah), dama gazelle (Gazella dama), and addax (Addax nasomaculatus) from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In denying the petitions, the Service found it did not have the discretion to differentiate the listing status of animals in captivity from those in the wild.

The petitions, brought by Safari Club International and the Exotic Wildlife Association, sought to delist only ...