Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service issued their final interpretation of the phrase "significant portion of its range" for the purposes of applying the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This phrase plays a key role in the listing and delisting of species, as it appears in the ESA’s definition of "endangered species" and "threatened species." Specifically, under the ESA, … Continue Reading
On June 23, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia affirmed the strict application of the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) pre-litigation notice requirements, dismissing a lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) failed to timely act on a number of listing petitions because the violations stated in the … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) recommended that the California Fish and Game Commission not list the gray wolf as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act. Following a yearlong review, DFW determined that the scientific evidence does not warrant listing the species at this time. Instead, DFW recommended designating the gray wolf as … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
As previously blogged about here, on December 9, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (Services) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (PDF) in the Federal Register that will, if adopted, change the Services’ standards for listing and delisting species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by … Continue Reading
