Articles

This article from a Santa Cruz, California paper reports the difficulties of landowners who wish to abide by the county's rather strict "sensitive habitats" ordinance, but who also have a pressing need to clear their lands of brush and trees that may present a fire hazard.  Although there may be some play at the local … ...

Yesterday the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit in federal district court in DC challenging the Service's decision to push back, by six months, a final decision on CBD's petition to list the Alaska Cook Inlet distinct population segment of Beluga whale.  CBD submitted the petition in 2006, and the Service made a positive 90-d ...

In response to today's Ninth Circuit NEPA decision in Lands Council v. McNair, Jonathan Adler offers an interesting thought: After briefly skimming the court's opinion in Lands Council v. McNair, I think it could be quite significant. In recent years, the Ninth Circuit has been something of an outlier in environmental law, and the most  ...

Yesterday the Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors jointly filed a lawsuit against the Army and U.S. Bureau of Land Management. According to the Press-Enterprise, the lawsuit alleges that the Army "moved more than 700 desert tortoises to habitat that is lower quality and with pockets of disease-ridden tortoises that already liv ...

At his ESA blawg, Keith Rizzardi submits this perspective on Endangered Species Act lawsuits against the federal government: Unfortunately, in today's reality, the chances of the FWS or NOAA actually engaging in settlement discussions is often slim to none, for three reasons. First, given the years of internal wrangling that takes place within ...

Here is an interesting article revealing the thinking of some members of the environmental community that, in light of global warming and other ills, recovery for all species—the ESA's cri de coeur—may simply be impossible. … ...

So reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and AP.  The lawsuit concerned a challenge to timber harvesting that allegedly had adverse and unmitigated impacts against the Northern Spotted Owl, a threatened species under the ESA.  The settlement, as described in the article, seems generally consistent with the cooperative conservation prin ...

Earthjustice, Defenders of Wildlife, and other environmental organizations have filed a 60-day notice with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, making FWS aware that the groups intend to sue over FWS's decision in March to not list the North American wolverine as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In its listing dec ...

The Oregon Natural Resources Report has this update on Trout Unlimited v. Lohn, the litigation over the status of the Oregon coastal coho salmon under the Endangered Species Act.  Pacific Legal Foundation represents Alsea Valley Alliance in this case. … ...