Endangered Species Law & Policy

In Souza v. California Department of Transportation, No. 13-cv-04407 (N.D. Cal. May 2, 2014), plaintiffs sought to enjoin a project proposed by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to modify U.S. Route 199 and State Route 197 in Del Norte County, California, near the Smith River. Plaintiffs challenged the adequacy of Caltrans’ consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service (Service) regarding the impacts of the project on the Southern Oregon Northern California Coast Evolutionary Significant Unit of the threatened coho salmon (SONCC coho). As ...

On May 2, 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) issued a 12-month finding concluding that, based on the best available scientific and commercial information, the endangered Lane Mountain milk-vetch (Astragalus jaegerianus), a plant found in a small portion of the central Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, should not be reclassified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.  The Service found that the "primary threats to Lane Mountain milk-vetch are habitat loss and disturbance from military training, OHV use, recreational mining ...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published a final rule (pdf) in the Federal Register listing the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana Sierrae) and the northern distinct population segment (DPS) of the mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa) as endangered, and the Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus Canorus) as threatened.  The agency proposed listing the species on April 25, 2013, following a decade of litigation intiiated by the Center for Biological Diversity, as describe in the proposed rule.

Recent research based on mitochondrial DNA, morphological ...

The House Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a full Committee markup of four bills intended to bring additional transparency to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The markup, which involves committee debates, amendments, and rewrites of the proposed legislation, is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 30, 2014. The Committee will be reviewing four ESA reform bills introduced last month. As we reported here, the bills would amend the ESA as follows:

H.R. 4315 (21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act) – Introduced by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash); the bill would ...

As reported by Kristi Pihl of the Tri-City Herald, the Columbia-Snake Irrigators Association has requested that the Governors of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho proceed through the "God Squad" process under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) to seek to exempt those who operate on the rivers from having to provide any further mitigation for the local salmon and steelhead populations. 

In the 1979 amendments to the ESA, Congress created the Endangered Species Act Committee (aka, the "God Squad"). The God Squad has the authority to exempt an agency action from the ...

In a unanimous decision, eleven active judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the duty to consult under section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when a federal agency action may affect a listed species or designated critical habitat of such species applies to the decision of the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) to renew long-term contracts to provide water to non-Federal parties. The decision, which reversed prior decisions by a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel and federal district court, effectively requires the Bureau to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) regarding the effects of contract renewals on the threatened delta smelt and to renegotiate the contracts following such consultation.

The decision has potentially far-reaching implications in California because it suggests that even those who hold long-term contracts with the United States for the provision of water or senior water rights under state law must comply with the Endangered Species Act.

 The Los Angeles Times reports that the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) unanimously voted to postpone a decision on whether to list the gray wolf (Canis lupus) under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA). As we previously reported, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended in February 2014 that the Commission not list the gray wolf under CESA, determining that the scientific evidence does not warrant listing the species at this time. The issue arose in 2011 when a single wolf, OR-7, was spotted in California for the first time.

The five-member ...

Earlier this week, the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to discuss Endangered Species Act (ESA) reform. The hearing focused on four bills that seek to require data and spending transparency under the ESA.

As previously reported, an ESA Congressional working group released a final report stating that the ESA is not working. The proposed bills are a result of that final report. Despite a general agreement that the 40-year old ESA should be updated, the hearing displayed the divide between Republicans and Democrats over how to do so.

One of the bills discussed at the ...

Last Thursday, a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held (pdf) that the incidental take requirements in section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) do not apply to listed plant species.

In Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management, No. C 03-02509 SI (N.D. Cal. Apr.3, 2014), environmental group plaintiffs challenged a biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). BLM had engaged in section 7 consultation with the Service regarding BLM’s management of the Imperial ...

This week, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia upheld (pdf) two settlement agreements – one between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) and WildEarth Guardians, and the other between the Service and the Center for Biological Diversity – that collectively require the Service to determine whether to list 251 species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in accordance with certain deadlines. See National Association of Home Builders v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, No. 12-2013 (Mar. 31, 2014).  Plaintiffs, who included organizations ...