Endangered Species Law & Policy

Last week, a man in southeast Alaska pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by twice intentionally ramming the boat he was operating into humpback whales, a listed species under the Act.  Federal prosecutors charged Kevin Carle with knowingly harassing, pursuing and harming whales, a violation that resulted in two years of probation and a $1,025 fine, reports the Juneau Empire.  Carle is now required to participate in an ESA Awareness program and must notify a probation officer if hired as a boat operator.

While in both instances Carle intentionally veered ...

Recently, a number of news outlets reported that the population of the palila (Loxioides bailleui), a Hawaiian songbird that the Fish and Wildlife Service listed as endangered in 1967 under the predecessor to the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA), has decline dramatically in recent years according to surveys conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and other entities.  In a five year status review of the species (pdf), the Fish and Wildlife Service previously identified the population decline.

From 2003 to 2007, the estimated number of palila on the southwestern slope of Mauna Kea ...

Two statewide snowmobile associations challenged the Fish and Wildlife Service's 2009 final rule designating critical habitat for the contiguous United States distinct population segment of the Canada lynx on the grounds the Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  In an order (PDF) dated September 10, 2010, the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming rejected plaintiffs' NEPA claims but concurred with plaintiffs that certain lands were designated as critical habitat in the final rule due to the ...

As we previously reported, representatives of the Federal government asked the National Research Council’s Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta to consider amending its existing task by agreeing to conduct a review of the draft Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP).  In a letter (PDF) dated September 10, 2010 and addressed to representatives of the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, the National Research Council agreed to provide a "short report" assessing the adequacy of the use of science and adaptive management in ...

The Service released a draft Revised Recovery Plan (PDF) for the northern spotted owl dated September 8, 2010.  The species, which inhabits portions of California, Oregon, and Washington, was listed as threatened in 1990.  A chronology of regulatory actions taken by the Service with respect to the northern spotted owl is available here (PDF).  According to a news release (PDF) issued by the Service, "[t]he draft revision is not an overhaul of the existing recovery plan but includes significant refinements based on scientific and technological advancements, especially related to ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit amended an opinion it filed earlier this year in Butte Environmental Council v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which we wrote about here.  The case concerns a challenge to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) finding that a proposed business park would not adversely modify the critical habitat of three listed species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). While the Ninth Circuit did not change its holding from the June opinion (PDF), it did clarify previous dicta concerning the Service’s analysis of adverse modification ...

The Ninth Circuit issued a decision (PDF) recently in which it held that the removal of an endangered plant from privately-owned waters of the United States is not a violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Section 9(a)(2)(B) of the ESA makes it unlawful to remove and reduce to possession any [endangered species of plant] from areas under federal jurisdiction. The court rejected plaintiffs’ argument that the term areas under federal jurisdiction includes areas that qualify as wetlands and other waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. The decision is important ...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed (PDF) a lower court decision denying a petition for review submitted by Forest Guardians challenging the decision of the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to reintroduce a nonessential experimental population of endangered Northern Aplomado Falcons into portions of southern New Mexico. The species was listed (PDF) as endangered in 1986 because it was believed extirpated from its historic range of portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in the United States though it persisted in northern Mexico. In 2001 ...

In Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink (PDF), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  upheld the district court's decision that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the Endangered Species Act in adopting amendments to BLM's grazing regulations and affirmed the district court's permanent injunction enjoining the amended regulations.  The Ninth Circuit held that BLM violated section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) regarding the amendments and also violated the National ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently made a 90-day finding (PDF) that a petition to list the plant species Arctostaphylos franciscana presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing this species may be warranted.  Arctostaphylos franciscana is a low, spreading to ascending evergreen shrub in the heath family that is endemic to the San Francisco peninsula in California.  The species was presumed extinct since 1947 when it was last seen in the wild, but, in October 2009, an ecologist identified a plant growing in a concrete-bound ...