Endangered Species Law & Policy

On January 23, 2013, over 25 California delegates to the House of Representatives introduced a bill, H.R. 399 (pdf), addressing the federal rules requiring trees growing on levees to be removed. Specifically, the bill would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to review its policy about vegetation-removal on levees, in order to consider allowing variances on a regional or watershed basis.

The Corps established a national vegetation removal policy in the wake of the failure of levees during Hurricane Katrina. According to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), the [C]orps ...

On January 11, 2013, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a proposed rule (pdf) to list the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  As we previously reported, the sage-grouse had been on the candidate species list since January of 2000, but the Service was not authorized to prepare a proposed rule to list the species or designate critical habitat until 2011, when additional resources became available.

The Gunnison sage-grouse is the smaller cousin of the greater sage-grouse.  The species ...

In Jayne v. Sherman, --- F.3d ---, 2013 U.S. App. Lexis 417, *1 (9th Cir. Jan. 7, 2013), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld (pdf) a biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding the Idaho Roadless Rule. Plaintiffs argued that FWS violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by improperly relying on commitments from the U.S. Forest Service regarding the impact of the rule on listed grizzly bear and caribou. In rejecting plaintiffs’ arguments, the court found that FWS reasonably relied on the Forest Service’s commitments to ...

This morning, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that he is planning to step down at the end of March.  A number of prominent elected officials from the western United States have been mentioned in the press as potential candidates for the position.

On January 4, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held (pdf) that Safari Club International (Safari Club) lacked standing to intervene as a matter of right in the litigation that resulted in two stipulated judgments establishing procedures and deadlines for reviewing listing and critical habitat determinations for 251 candidate species, thereby affirming the decision of the district court.  (A short discussion of the history leading up to these settlements can be found here and here.) 

The Safari Club asserted that it had a procedural ...

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) has determined (pdf) that there is sufficient scientific information to petition to list the Northeastern Pacific (NEP) population of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) as threatened or endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.  Currently, the take and possession of white sharks is protected from sport and commercial fishing activities, with limited exceptions, under existing laws.  However, the scientific information in the petition demonstrates that the species may benefit from ...

On December 28, 2012, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a final rule (pdf) listing three subspecies of the ringed seal as threatened and one subspecies as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The same day, NMFS listed (pdf) two distinct population segments of the bearded seal as threatened under the ESA. Based on the best scientific and commercial data available, NMFS concluded that a significant decrease in snow ice is probable later this century, and that these changes will likely cause these seal populations to decline. A species is considered ...

On December 17, 2012, the National Association of Home Builders, the Olympia Master Builders, the Home Builder Association of Greater Austin, and the Texas Salamander Coalition, Inc., filed a lawsuit (pdf) against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Ken Salazar, in his official capacity, alleging that when the Service entered into stipulated settlements with WildEarth Guardians (pdf) and the Center for Biological Diversity (pdf) establishing procedures and deadlines for reviewing the listing and critical habitat determinations for 251 candidate species ...

In Central Coast Forest Assoc. v. California Fish and Game Commission (pdf), the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District held that a petition to delist the endangered coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), fails at the outset because a petition to delist a species may not be employed to challenge a final determination of the Commission.  The 2-1 decision is one of a small number of reported cases to interpret the listing provisions of the California Endangered Species Act (CESA).  The decision has important state-wide ...

On January 2, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a final rule increasing the critical habitat designated for the southwestern willow flycatcher (pdf) (Empidonax traillii extimus).  The flycatcher is a small migratory bird (approximately 6 inches long) that nests in dense riparian habitats along streams, lakesides, and other wetlands.  The Service listed the flycatcher as endangered in 1995, and in 1997 issued an initial critical habitat designation.  Shortly thereafter, however, the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association filed a lawsuit ...