Endangered Species Law & Policy

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland recently decided (pdf) cross motions for summary judgment in a challenge to a biological opinion (BiOp) and reasonable and prudent alternative (RPA) in favor of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).  In the BiOp and RPA, which NMFS developed at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and after consultation with that agency, NMFS evaluated the effects of chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion on 27 species of Pacific salmonids.  Plaintiffs argued that the BiOp and RPA were unlawful – in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA) – in a number of respects.  But the court rejected each claim and consistently deferred to NMFS as the expert agency charged with implementation of the ESA.

Plaintiffs claimed that NMFS improperly employed and relied on two models.  NMFS utilized results from application of the models to predict pesticide levels in streams that support the listed salmonids.  With respect to the use of one of the models by NMFS, the court opined that there seems to be a reasonable difference of opinion regarding whether the model accurately predicts pesticide concentrations.  But the court stated that it is not within the purview of this Court to weigh the evidence supporting [ ] extremely divergent scientific opinions and decide which of them is correct.  It appears though that, when the court held for NMFS on this issue, it may have been influenced by its view that the ultimate outcome would not differ across a range of predicted pesticide levels.

In response to a petition (pdf) from the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) to delist the coastal California gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica californica) under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a 90-day finding (pdf) that the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information to indicate that delisting the species may be warranted.  PLF argued that the coastal California gnatcatcher is not a valid subspecies and should therefore be delisted.  In response, the Service acknowledged "that the taxonomic ...

Today, on October 31, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States denied (pdf) review of a constitutional challenge to water delivery regulations regarding the Central Valley Project and California State Water Project intended to protect the threatened delta smelt. The petition for writ of certiorari was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of Stewart & Jasper Orchards, and asserted that application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to the delta smelt, a noncommercial fish that is only found in California, is an unconstitutional exercise of congressional power under ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied (PDF) an emergency motion (PDF) for an injunction pending appeal to the extent the moving parties sought an injunction prior to the court hearing oral arguments, currently scheduled for November 8, 2011.  At issue in the underlying appeal is the constitutionality of a law (Public Law 112-10 section 1713 (Section 1713)) passed by Congress that directs the Secretary of the Interior to reissue a 2009 final rule which removed Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for all wolves living in the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wold ...

A NOAA task force, made up of representatives from state and federal agencies, tribes, and interest groups, voted on Monday to recommend that NOAA Fisheries permit Oregon and Washington to remove up to 85 California sea lions a year in order to protect listed salmon and steelhead.  Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NOAA is charged with protecting marine mammals such as the California sea lion; but, NOAA is also the lead agency responsible for saving Columbia River salmon and steelhead, which are listed under the Endangered Species Act ("ESA").  Since 2002, California ...

On October 17, 2011, U.S. District Judge Sullivan issued two opinions in the Polar Bear litigation previously blogged about here.  In the first opinion (pdf), Judge Sullivan held that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by issuing a rule under section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) regarding take of the threatened Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) without conducting an environmental assessment. 

As previously reported here, the 4(d) rule for the polar bear sets forth those measures and prohibitions the Secretary of Interior deems necessary and advisable for the conservation the polar bear, but it has the effect of specifically prohibiting the federal government from using the polar bear's threatened status to regulate GHG emissions of activities that occur outside the polar bear’s range.  Earlier this year, Judge Sullivan upheld the Service's definition of "endangered" and its decision to list the polar bear as threatened.

Until the Service completes its analysis of the 4(d) rule under NEPA, an interim 4(d) rule issued in May 2008 remains in place.  Because the interim rule has the same effect as the final rule, the polar bear will continue to receive the same protections.

In the second opinion (pdf), Judge Sullivan held that the Service did not abuse its discretion when it determined that the polar bear is a "depleted" species under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and therefore sport-hunted polar bear trophies are not eligible for importation.

The Court also held that the Service did not abuse its discretion when it refused to process applications to import sport-hunted trophy polar bears that were pending at the time the Service determined that the species is depleted.   The Service stopped processing the applications because it determined that the applicants had not established that importing sport-hunted trophies would "enhance" the status of the polar bear by increasing the population or otherwise contributing to the recovery of the species.  Thus, the applications do not qualify for an exception to the MMPA's general ban on importing sport-hunted trophies of depleted marine mammals.

In response to a letter from two local congressmen (PDF), Republicans from the Natural Resources Water and Power Subcommittee have scheduled an oversight hearing to examine the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s recent designation of critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker (Catostomus santaanae).  As reported on this blog, the Service published a final rule (Dec. 14, 2010) designating critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker, a small fish species occurring in southern California.  The Final Rule designates nearly 10,000 acres in the Santa Ana and San Gabriel rivers and Big Tujunga ...

On October 7, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") announced that the California state fish, the California golden trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita), did not warrant listing under the federal Endangered Species Act because "conservation measures throughout the trout's historic range have done much to protect the species."   

In 2000, Trout Unlimited petitioned the Service to list the California golden trout citing habitat degradation from grazing, hybridization and introgression threats from introduced rainbow trout, predation and ...

On October 13, 2011, the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on the nexus of science and policy related to the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  According to a press release issued by the House, the purpose of the hearing was to "highlight how science is used in policy decisions that are made under [the ESA]."  The witnesses at the hearing were:

• Mr. Gary Frazer, Assistant Director, Endangered Species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• The Honorable Craig Manson, General ...

Last week, the Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) announced a 12-month finding (PDF) that the Mohave ground squirrel (Spermophilus mohavensis) does not warrant protection as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service’s finding was in response to a petition from the Defenders of Wildlife and a private citizen to list the species as endangered.

In April 2010, the Service issued a finding that concluded the petition presented substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing the Mohave ground squirrel may be ...

Proposed revisions (pdf) to the draft Santa Clara Valley Habitat Conservation Plan / Natural Community Conservation Plan (HCP/NCCP) were released last month to address the hundreds of comments received regarding the draft plan, which was issued in December 2010. The draft plan and comment letters are available for viewing here.

The Santa Clara Valley HCP/NCCP is intended to identify conservation and mitigation measures to protect species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), while allowing for orderly ...

On September 30, 2011, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California upheld (pdf) a decision of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to approve management measures developed by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council in conjunction with the Council's decision to open the commercial and recreational fishery for Fall-run Chinook salmon in the Central Valley for the 2011 season.  The NMFS decision had been challenged by the San Joaquin River Group Authority, a California joint powers authority made up of member agencies that own or operate ...

Recently, we reported on an unusual bad faith finding made by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in litigation challenging the 2008 biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) regarding the effects of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project on the delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus).  Thus far, the Department of the Interior has reacted to the bad faith finding by expressing its confidence in agency personnel involved in the matter.  Mike Taugher of the Contra Costa Times reported that Department of ...

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California issued a 279-page memorandum decision (pdf) on cross-motions for summary judgment in consolidated cases involving challenges to the June 4, 2009 biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding the effects of continued operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project in California on five listed fish species. The court considered dozens of claims advanced by plaintiffs and held for plaintiffs in whole or in part with respect to about half of the claims while ...

In 1978, the Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) was listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.  On September 16, 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a Final Rule revising the listing for the Loggerhead Sea Turtle from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments.  In the Final Rule five distinct population segments were listed as endangered and four were listed as threatened.  Jim Lecky, director of protected species at NOAA Fisheries, stated ...

On September 16, 2011, in litigation challenging a biological opinion and reasonable and prudent alternative issued with respect to the effects of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project in California on the threatened delta smelt, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California made a finding of agency bad faith by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The finding was incorporated into the court's ruling from the bench on motions to stay filed by federal defendants and intervenor environmental groups after the court issued a decision on August 31 ...

The California Legislature has sent to the Governor legislation authorizing the Department of Fish and Game to permit the incidental take of 36 fully protected species pursuant to a natural community conservation plan approved by the Department. (Senate Bill 618 (Wolk).) The legislation, in effect, gives fully protected species the same level of protection as is provided under the Natural Community Conservation Planning Act (NCCP Act) for endangered and threatened species. (Cal. Fish & Game Code § 2835.)  The legislation removes a significant regulatory barrier to the ...

The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has approved (pdf) two settlement agreements among environmental groups and the Fish and Wildlife Service to address a backlog of species that are candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act.  One (pdf) of the agreements was entered into with Wildearth Guardians, and the second (pdf) was entered into with the Center for Biological Diversity.  On the same day that the Court entered the settlements, it issued a decision (pdf) and order denying a motion by a hunting group to intervene in the matter.  We previously ...

Last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced (PDF) a 12-month finding to list the Franciscan manzanita (Arctostaphylos franciscana) -- a plant previously thought to be extinct in the wild -- as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The plant, native to the San Francisco peninsula, had not been seen in the wild since 1947.  As we previously reported here, in fall 2009, a botanist identified a single specimen in an area adjacent to Doyle Drive in San Francisco.  A conservation plan was quickly designed for the plant, which was then transplanted to the ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently announced (PDF) the availability of the 2011 Revised Recovery Plan for the Mojave Population of the Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) (PDF).  The Plan calls for an adaptive management approach, something the Service says is necessary to "accommodate changing management needs" of the species.  In contrast, an earlier earlier recovery plan, finalized in 1994, focused on traditional mitigation measures to achieve recovery of the threatened desert tortoise.

Key elements of the 2011 Recovery Plan include developing ...

On August 31, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California enjoined implementation (pdf) of a water management action (referred to as the Fall X2 Action), which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) proposed to take pursuant to a 2008 biological opinion (BiOp) for operation of the California State Water Project and federal Central Valley Project in the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta (Delta).  Under the BiOp’s reasonable and prudent alternative, the Fall X2 Action requires a combination of reservoir ...

On August 30, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that it will designate under section 4 of the federal Endangered Species Act approximately 47,383 acres of critical habitat for the Sonoma County Distinct Population Segment of the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense).  The Service had previously re-opened the comment period on its proposed critical habitat designation on June 21, 2011, in order to allow interested parties to comment on the proposed addition of 4,945 acres of critical habitat for the Santa Rosa Plain Unit.  ...

On August 25, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied (pdf) an emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal to re-instate Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. Environmental groups appealed the case to the Ninth Circuit on August 13, 2011, after a federal district court upheld legislation directing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) to reissue a 2009 rule that removed ESA restrictions on the gray wolf, except in the state of Wyoming. The same rule was determined by a district ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced a proposed rule (pdf) this week to revise critical habitat for the federally endangered Coachella Valley milk-vetch (Astragalus lentiginosus var. coachellae).  The proposed rule would designate approximately 25,704 acres of land in Riverside County, California as critical habitat for the plant, which is endemic to the Coachella Valley. The four geographic units proposed as critical habitat include sand transport and deposition areas associated with: San Gorgonio River and Snow Creek, Whitewater River, Mission ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced a 90-day finding (pdf) that delisting the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus) may be warranted.  The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) initially petitioned the Service to delist the beetle in September 2010.  In April 2011, PLF filed a lawsuit seeking a court order directing the Service to issue a finding on PLF's petition.  The 90-day finding commences the Service's status review of the species to determine whether delisting is warranted.  The Service is requesting available data on the beetle.  The ...

Pursuant to a state law (pdf) enacted in 2010, the legislature required the California Natural Resources Agency to convene a cabinet-level committee to develop a strategic vision for the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission, and submit it to the governor and Legislature before July 1, 2012.  The state has established a website that describes the committee, referred to as the executive committee, a citizen commission, and a stakeholder advisory group.  The stakeholder advisory group is holding a series of meetings over the next 10 days to address a variety of ...

On August 15, 2011, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published a Federal Register notice (pdf) announcing the five-year review reports for six species of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS completed reviews for five Pacific salmon species evolutionary significant units (ESUs), and one steelhead distinct population segment (DPS) in California. Specifically, reviews were completed for the Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon (pdf), the Central Valley spring-run Chinook (pdf), the Central Valley steelhead (pdf ...

An edited volume recently released by Resources for the Future Press and Earthscan focuses on federalism and the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The editors are Kaush Arha and Buzz Thompson, both of whom are associated with the Woods Institute at Stanford University.  According to these editors, the volume "explores the critical role that states can and should play in protecting the nation's vast wealth of biodiversity."  The volume includes case studies of federalism and the ESA focused on individual species and chapters that address federalism and the ESA at the conceptual ...

On August 19, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California denied in part and granted in part FEMA's motion for partial summary judgment (PDF) in the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against FEMA for failing to consult under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) regarding the impacts of its administration of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) on listed species that depend upon floodplains.

In their first claim for relief in Coalition for a Sustainable Delta v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, No. 09-2024 (E.D. Cal.), the plaintiffs ...

In a recently issued decision (pdf), a U.S. District Court overruled a Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) decision to delist the West Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel because the delisting rule was not consistent with the species’ recovery plan and the recovery plan can only be modified after notice and comment rulemaking. Friends of Blackwater v. Salazar, 772 F. Supp. 2d 232 (D.D.C. 2010).

The squirrel was first listed (pdf) in 1985. In 1990, FWS issued a recovery plan (pdf) outlining four criteria to be met for delisting. In 2006, FWS conducted a species review (pdf) that recommended ...

On August 15, 2011, after a little more then a decade of protection, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that the Lake Erie water snake (Nerodia sipedon insularum) was recovered and that it has been removed from the list of threatened and endangered species.  The Service, which listed the Lake Erie water snake as a threatened species in 1999, stated that the recovery was achieved through minimizing and reducing "the threats to the snake by sustaining and protecting summer and hibernation habitats and ensuring the permanent protection of shoreline ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service announced it is listing the Miami blue butterfly (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri) as endangered on an emergency  basis under the Endangered Species Act.  The agency decision (pdf) appears in the August 10, 2011 Federal Register.  The species "is currently known to occur at only a few small remote islands within the Florida Keys."  This current distribution is dramatically smaller than the historic distribution, according to the Service: "the Miami blue has undergone a substantial reduction in its historical range, with an estimated > 99 percent ...

On August 8, 2011, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) reported that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) listed five fish species located in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act.  The five fish species include the Cumberland darter (Etheostoma susanae), rush darter (Etheostoma phytophilum), yellowcheek darter (Etheostoma moorei), chucky madtom (Noturus crypticus), and laural dace (Chrosomus saylori).  All five fish species were previously identified on the Service's candidate list, which ...

The United States District Court for the District of Oregon issued a decision (pdf) invalidating the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) 2008 and 2010 biological opinions for operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation after the parties to the litigation challenging those decisions filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The court held that NMFS improperly made a no jeopardy determination with respect to certain listed salmonids on the basis of unidentified habitat mitigation measures.

The ...

On August 3, 2011, a federal judge upheld (pdf) a congressional budget rider that removed Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for gray wolves in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. The legislation was included as part of the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 (pdf) (H.R. 1473) (the Act), which was passed by Congress and signed by the President in April 2011. Section 1713 of the Act directed the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) to reissue a 2009 rule that removed ESA restrictions on the gray wolf, except for in the state of ...

On July 27, 2011, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings announced that the Committee will "move forward" in the fall to examine the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in an effort to reauthorize the law.  Chairman Hastings issued his statement shortly after the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Norm Dicks to the FY 2012 Interior Appropriations Bill that restored funding to the ESA's listing program.  The original spending bill would have eliminated funding for the processing of petitions, preparation of 12-month findings, and issuance of final rules ...

The journal Conservation Biology recently posted a forthcoming article on their website that I co-authored with Drs. Dennis Murphy and Kenneth Cummins entitled, A Critical Assessment of the Use of Surrogate Species in Conservation Planning in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, California (U.S.A.). The principle purpose of the article is to assess the use of surrogate species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Specifically, we examined the use of surrogate species, in the form of cross-taxon response-indicator species, that is, one species from which data are used to guide ...

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has suspended its letter of authorization (LOA) under Section 120 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) allowing the States of Oregon and Washington to lethally remove California sea lions caught eating endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River.  NMFS cited pending litigation in Federal court and limited sea lion activity for its decision, and invited the states to renew their request for an LOA in 2012.  NMFS’ decision comes in the wake of an agreement (see earlier post) between wildlife advocates and the two states to ...

On July 22, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) erred when it designated 143 acres of private property as critical habitat for the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp (Branchinecta sandiegonensis) based on a single observation of the shrimp on the property in 2001.

The question presented in Otay Mesa Property L.P. v. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, No. 10-5204, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 14998 (D.C. Cir. July 22, 2011) was quite narrow: whether a single confirmed sighting of the endangered fairy shrimp in a ...

The Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) made a "warranted but precluded" finding (PDF) for the whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis).  This finding means that the Service has determined that the whitebark pine should be listed, but that it will not currently list the species because there are other higher priority species in the queue and there is a lack of funding.  Therefore, the Service has added the whitebark pine to its candidates species list and will develop a proposed rule to list the species as priorities and funding allow. 

As we previously reported, the Natural Resources Defense ...

On July 12, 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced that is strengthening a work plan to address a backlog in making listing determinations regarding numerous candidate species.  The work plan is part of a settlement agreement (Agreement) with WildEarth Guardians (WildEarth) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the two plaintiff groups that most frequently file suit on endangered species issues.  The Agreement builds on a multi-year work plan that the Service had previously filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in May.

The Service ...

In a settlement agreement (pdf) filed in federal court on July 5, 2011, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) agreed to issue a final rule by November 15, 2011, likely revising the critical habitat for the endangered leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) to include waters off the U.S. West coast. 

NMFS initially designated critical habitat for the leatherback in 1979, issuing a final rule (pdf) designating critical habitat only in waters adjacent to Sandy Point Beach, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.  In 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity

On June 30, 2011, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a revised recovery plan (PDF) for the Northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina).  Most people are familiar with the spotted owl because of the intense media attention it received during the 1990s when a fight erupted over whether to continue to allow timber harvesting in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, which conservationists argued was causing loss of critical habitat for the species.  The Service first issued a recovery plan for the spotted owl in 2008, and numerous parties challenged that plan in court.  In ...

On June 30, 2011, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dan Ashe as Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Ashe has held various positions with the Service over the past 15 years.  His immediate predecessor was Rowan Gould, who served as Acting Director beginning in February 2010 when then-Director Sam Hamilton passed away.  Though the position requires Senate confirmation, it has frequently been filled by career Service employees.  The Department of the Interior announced Ashe's confirmation in a press release, available here.

Over 38 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have introduced the Government Litigation Savings Act (H.R. 1996) to amend provisions of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to limit recovery of attorneys’ fees and other expenses in cases brought against federal agencies.

EAJA was passed in 1980 to help individuals, groups or businesses with limited access to financial resources defend themselves against harmful government actions. Under EAJA, plaintiffs who prevail on their claims against the federal government may seek recovery of attorneys’ fees and certain ...

In a closely watched and hotly contested challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to list the Polar Bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the final listing rule at 73 Fed. Reg. 28,212 (May 15, 2008) (pdf), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a 116-page opinion (pdf) in which it upheld both the decision to list the bear as threatened, not endangered, and the Service's interpretation of "endangered species" as a species that is "on the brink of extinction."

As previously reported here, the Center for ...

A plan to remove four dams along the Klamath River, which flows from Oregon through California to the Pacific Ocean, has major proponents including the federal government, the States of California and Oregon, and a number of environmental groups.  But in a June 13, 2011 report (pdf), an independent review panel has raised serious questions regarding the likelihood that the dam removal proposal will achieve the principal conservation goal of increasing the population of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Klamath River system.

The panel acknowledged the potential ...

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona entered summary judgment (pdf) for the United States Forest Service in a case filed by Defenders of Wildlife and other plaintiffs alleging the Forest Service failed to fulfill its duty to conserve under section 7(a)(1) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The case focused on efforts to conserve the Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) by reintroducing an experimental population of the species into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area, which includes portions of east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico ...

The wildfires in Arizona have raged through forests and burned down homes, but as recently reported by the Washington Post, three packs of endangered Mexican gray wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) appear to have been spared.  (Story by Associated Press, June 23, 2011).  Firefighters have spotted two of the three packs moving around with their pups, and researchers were able to confirm the survival of at least three wolves from the third pack via radio collar data.  It is currently unknown whether pups from the third pack have survived the fires, but a spokesman for the ...

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced its determination to retain the listing of the Oregon Coast (OC) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The agency's determination was published (pdf) in the Federal Register on June 20, 2011.  NMFS first proposed listing of the Oregon coast coho salmon in 1995 and first listed (pdf) the species in 1998.  The status of the species has been the subject of considerable controversy and a number of lawsuits.  Most recently, a 2008 ...