Environmental Law

Distinct population segments of gray wolves removed from ESA protection in Western Great Lakes and Northern Rockies

Posted on April 05, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 15070 / Vol. 74, No. 62 / Thursday, April 2, 2009 / Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Final Rule To Identify the Western Great Lakes Populations of Gray ...

Safe Harbor Agreement with expanded habitat for Palos Verdes blue butterfly could ease burden on U.S. Navy

Posted on April 05, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 15516 / Vol. 74, No. 64 / Monday, April 6, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / Proposed Safe Harbor Agreement for the Deane Dana Friendship Community Regional Park in Los Angeles County, CA / Notice of ...

FWS announces 5-year reviews on 42 species in California and Nevada

Posted on March 29, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 12878 / Vol. 74, No. 56 / Wednesday, March 25, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Initiation of 5-Year Reviews of 58 Species in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah; ...

FWS finds yellow-billed loon listing warranted, rangewide, but precluded by higher priorities

Posted on March 29, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 12932 / Vol. 74, No. 56 / Wednesday, March 25, 2009 / Department of the Interior / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12-Month Finding on a Petition To List the Yellow-Billed Loon as ...

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Dollars, sense, and the Endangered Species Act

Posted on March 24, 2009
Yes, its an important and controversial law.  But Noah Greenwald says we have "60 days to save the ESA" on The Stump, citing the March 11 passage of HR 1105 Omnibus Appropriations Bill giving Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar 60-days to ...

FWS reconsidering proposed rule on Columbia River DPS of coastal cutthroat trout

Posted on March 24, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 12297 (Vol. 74, No. 55 /Tuesday, March 24, 2009) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Significant Portion of the Range of Marine and ...

With red knots on the candidate list, Third Circuit declares emergency listing dispute moot

Posted on March 18, 2009
American Bird Conservancy v. Kempthorne, No. 07-4609 (March 11, 2009) BACKGROUND: In July and August 2005, appellants, a number of conservation groups, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) to list as endangered on an emergency basis ...

Salazar, science and centrism

Posted on March 17, 2009
Secretary Salazar appears to be well on his way towards moving the Department of Interior back to a more centrist position.  The agency has already listed two new endangered species (the reticulated flatwoods salamander and today's hawaiian ...

Hawaiian vine listed as endangered, and FWS reviewing new information on slickspot peppergrass

Posted on March 17, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 11319 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Listing Phyllostegia hispida (No Common Name) as Endangered Throughout Its Range / ....

9th Circuit upholds NOAA's salmon hatchery policies in Trout Unlimited v. Lohn

Posted on March 16, 2009
Trout Unlimited v. Lohn, No. 07-35623 (9th Circuit, Mar. 16, 2009) BACKGROUND: We must decide whether the National Marine Fisheries Service may distinguish between natural and hatchery-spawned salmon and steelhead when determining the level of ...

NOAA proposes threatened status for euchalon population segment

Posted on March 16, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 10857 (Monday, March 16, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration / 50 CFR Part 223 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants: Proposed Threatened Status for Southern Distinct Population Segment ...

Town of Marana, AZ, and group in Charlotte County, FL, propose Habitat Conservation Plans

Posted on March 16, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. (March 2, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / Town of Marana Habitat Conservation Plan, Pima County, AZ / Notice of availability: draft environmental impact statement and draft habitat conservation plan in support ...

Five year reviews underway for 103 species, including Hawaiian tree snails and the Hawaiian hoary bat

Posted on March 16, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 11130 (Monday, March 16, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Initiation of 5-Year Reviews of 103 Species in Hawaii / ACTION: Notice of review. SUMMARY: We, the U...

Responding to court order, critical habitat revisions proposed for New Mexico invertebrates

Posted on March 16, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 10701 (Thursday, March 12, 2009) / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR / Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Designation of Critical Habitat for Roswell springsnail (Pyrgulopsis ...

Cattle grazing allowed to continue, but criticized for endangered species impacts, by federal court in Idaho

Posted on March 11, 2009
Western Watersheds Project v. Dyer, Nos. CV-04-181-S-BLW, CV-02-521-S-BLW, 2009 WL 484438 (D.Idaho, Feb. 26, 2009) (B. Lynn Winmill, Chief Judge) SUMMARY: Western Watersheds Project, an environmental group, brought this lawsuit to ban livestock ...

California business park plan withstands judicial review, impacts to fairy shrimp critical habitat upheld

Posted on March 11, 2009
Butte Environmental Council v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, No. 2:08-cv-1316-GEB-CMK, 2009 WL 497575 (E.D.Cal. Jan. 21, 2009)(Garland E. Burrell, Jr., U.S. District Judge) BACKGROUND: Plaintiff Butte Environmental Council ("BEC") seeks ...

Status review on Roundtail chub underway by FWS in Colorado River basin

Posted on March 09, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 9205 (Tuesday, Mar. 3, 2009) DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / 50 CFR Part 17 / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Initiation of Status Review for the Roundtail Chub (Gila robusta) in the Lower Colorado River ...

Visit my guest blog on exotic pythons invading the Everglades at paw-talk.net

Posted on March 09, 2009
For years, irresponsible pet owners – unwilling to destroy their too-big-to-keep reptile friends – have silently released their unwanted Burmese pythons into the Florida Everglades.  The pythons survived.  The Everglades now squirms with breeding ...

U.S. District Court in California rejects challenge of ?no effect? determination for jurisdictional reasons, but foreshadows just how controversial the Bush Administration?s consultation regulations are (or could have become)

Posted on March 05, 2009

Court defers to FWS inferences on finding of insufficiency for petition to list giant Palouse earthworm

Posted on March 05, 2009

Obama begins reversal of Bush's ESA consultation regulations by Executive Order

Posted on March 03, 2009

FWS designates revised critical habitat for Canada lynx to correct prior scientific abuses

Posted on March 02, 2009

ESA in the news: Pres. Obama, Judge Wanger, and Arizona Jaguars

Posted on February 27, 2009

Battle over Bush Administration's consultation regulations begins anew.

Posted on February 25, 2009
Yesterday, the Center for Biological Diversity praised a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee for moving an omnibus appropriations bill that, if passed, "will give President Obama power to rescind rules weakening both the Endangered ...

Federal Circuit refuses request for en banc hearing on Casitas case, and battle of Western water law vs. ESA may head to SCOTUS

Posted on February 20, 2009
Previously, ESA blawg readers have learned about the enormous implications of the ongoing Casitas water district litigation.  See prior ESA blawg postings on the original Federal Circuit decision and the request for en banc review.  In a ...

The trouble with tourists...

Posted on February 20, 2009
Sure, ecotourism can be helpful, and brings much-needed dollars into conservation causes.  But tourism and recreation has consequences too, as three news stories recently made clear.  Resident orca populations in Puget Sound are starving as ...

FWS announces 5-year review for 10 Caribbean plant species

Posted on February 20, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 7914 / Vol. 74, No. 33 / Friday, February 20, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 5-Year Review of 10 Caribbean Plant Species SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and ...

The Council of Elders speaks; will Obama Administration listen?

Posted on February 19, 2009
In a remarkable document, Recommendations to the Obama Administration for an Improved Columbia River Salmon Recovery Program (January 2009), the Council of Elders and Resource Renewal Institute -- largely consisting of retired wildlife managers and ....

Good news stories on ESA include whales, sea turtles, wolves, eagles, and butterflies. But for the American pika, well, not so good...

Posted on February 19, 2009
The last few days offered a rare series of good news stories on the Endangered Species Act.  CNN reports that volunteers and retirees are watching the Florida coastline to help protect migrating endangered, but increasing, North Atlantic right ....

Five-year reviews underway for 23 southwestern species, especially in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico

Posted on February 11, 2009
74 Fed. Reg. 6917 / Vol. 74, No. 27 / Wednesday, February 11, 2009 / DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service / Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 5-Year Reviews of 23 Southwestern Species; Notice of reviews. SUMMARY: We, the ...

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