Endangered Species Law & Policy

On October 23^rd the Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington upheld the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program’s (NFIP) compliance with a 2008 reasonable and prudent alternative (RPA) stemming from previous litigation.  The National Wildlife Federation initially challenged the program for its impacts on endangered Pacific Northwest Chinook salmon, Puget Sound steelhead, Hood Canal chum salmon, and Southern Resident killer whales in National Wildlife Federation v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, 345 ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently announced that it is proposing to list the African lion (Pantera leo leo) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The proposed listing is the result of a 2011 petition to list the species as endangered. In the Service’s 12-month finding on that petition, the Service determined that listing the African lion as threatened throughout its range under the ESA is warranted.

The African lion has a large range and its population has ten strongholds totaling approximately 24,000 lions, which is 70 percent of the current ...

On October 24, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule listing the Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae) as a threatened species and the Poweshiek skipperling (Oarisma poweshiek) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.  The Dakota skipper is found in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba and Sasketchewan, and that the Poweshiek skipperling is found in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba.  The Service determined that the Dakota skipper is likely to become endangered throughout all of its range within the ...

Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that it will re-open the public comment period on its proposal to designate 546,335 acres of critical habitat for the western population of yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.  The announcement came after 17 members of Congress requested that the Service provide additional time for the public to review the proposed critical habitat designation, and two members of Congress publicly criticized the Service's ...

Recently, two separate petitions were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority v. Jewell, a case involving a challenge to the biological opinion and reasonable and prudent alternative issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding continuing operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project in California. The two projects provide water to over 20 million Californians.

One petition (pdf) was filed on behalf of Stewart & Jasper Orchards, Arroyo Farms, and King Pistachio ...

On October 6, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a news release (pdf) announcing its proposal to list the West Coast Distinct Population Segment (West Coast DPS) of fisher (Pekanian pennanti) as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), in part due to significant threats from illegal marijuana farming. 

The fisher belongs to a family of mammals that includes weasels and otters, and grows to about the size of a large house cat.  The Federal Register notice (pdf) regarding the proposed listing, which was published yesterday, states that the ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has published (pdf) a proposed rule to list 21 species as endangered and 2 species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Of the 21 species the Service proposes to list as endangered, twelve are plant species and nine are animal species. The two proposed threatened species are animal species.

All 23 species are found in the U.S. Territory of Guam and the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. According to the proposed rule, the species are experiencing population level impacts as a result of habitat loss and ...

Last Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published its final rule listing the western yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The species is an insect-eating bird found in riparian woodland habitat. The final rule lists loss of riparian habitat as the primary threat to the species and notes that conversion to agriculture, dam construction, river flow management, and overgrazing have all contributed to loss of the species’ habitat over the last several decades. The species has been listed in twelve ...

On September 30, 2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld (PDF) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) decision to withdraw (PDF) its proposal to list the dunes sagebrush lizard as an endangered species.  The Service found that threats to the lizard and its habitat have been reduced such that the species no longer meets the statutory definition of an endangered (or threatened) species.  

The dunes sagebrush lizard’s (Sceloporus arenicolus) range spans approximately 745,000 acres across southeastern New Mexico and western Texas in shinnery oak ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has declined to list two Nevada plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On Wednesday, the Service published its 12-month findings on a petition to list the Churchill Narrows buckwheat (Eriogonum diatomaceum) and the Las Vegas buckwheat (Eriogonum corymbosum var. nilesii).

Section 4(a)(1) of the ESA lists five factors that the Service must examine when deciding whether to list a species as threatened or endangered: (1) the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range; (2 ...