Articles

The lizard slithers off into the sunset of recovery

March 17, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff One of the most litigated-over species in the Southwest has been the flat-tailed horned lizard.  First noted as a species at risk by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in the early 1980s, the species was ultimately formally proposed for listing in 1993.  Fast forward nearly twenty years, and two appella ...

Articles

A welcome limitation on an illogical decision

April 22, 2011 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

Author:  Damien M. Schiff Something of a sleeper case decided in February just came to my attention:  Wildearth Guardians v. U.S. Secretary of the Interior, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38736 (D. Idaho Feb. 11, 2011).  The enviro plaintiffs challenged the Fish and Wildlife Service's denial of a petition to list the Columbian sharp-ta ...

Articles

Rep. Markey gets it wrong

January 30, 2012 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last month, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service issued a draft joint policy statement on how the agencies would interpret the phrase “significant portion of its range” as used in the Endangered Species Act.  (PLF submitted comments on the proposal last week.)  Now, one of the reputedl ...

Articles

A very litigious pygmy owl

March 29, 2012 | By DAMIEN SCHIFF

Last week, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced that it has provided notice to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service of its intent to sue the agency over its decision not to list the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl as an endangered species.  The threatened lawsuit is just the latest in a long series … ...