On August 4, 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced its decision to list two small Texas minnows — the sharpnose shiner (Notropis oxyrhynchus) and smalleye shiner (N. buccula) — as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The two Texas minnows, which have been candidates species since 2002, measure less than 2 … Continue Reading
On August 12, 2013, the National Marine Fisheries Service refused to list the alewife herring (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), concluding that based on the best scientific and commercial data available, neither species warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act. The determinationn was in response to a petition submitted by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The news was … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a notice of proposed rule to designate approximately 1,184 square miles of marine habitat in the Puget Sound as critical habitat for the threatened distinct population segment of yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberriums), the threatened distinct population segment of canary rockfish (Sebastes pinniger), and the endangered distinct population segment of … Continue Reading
On January 10, 2013, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska issued an order (pdf) vacating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s critical habitat designation for the polar bear after concluding that the Service failed to comply with substantive and procedural requirements in the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the district court found that the administrative record produced … 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
Effective August 13, 2012, the Chupadera springsnail’s 28-year candidacy for listing will be over. In a final rule (pdf) issued July 12, 2012, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Chupadera springsnail (Pyrgulopsis chupaderae) as endangered, and designated critical habitat for the species in the only two units where it is known to occur in Socorro County, … Continue Reading
On November 16, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling (PDF) affirming a lower court’s decision (PDF) that two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) biological opinions (BiOp) for a proposed 1500-acre mining project in the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness on the Kootenai National Forest met the legal standards set forth … Continue Reading
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 … Continue Reading
As explained in a previous posting, in November 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 187,157 square miles of land in, and sea ice adjacent to, Alaska as critical habitat for polar bear. Shortly after the final rule was published in the Federal Register, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association (AOGA) sent a sixty-day … Continue Reading
