Description: Challenge to withdrawal of proposed designation of the Pacific fisher as a threatened species.
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Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 12/03/2019 Order Download Stipulated request for extension denied. 11/29/2019 Stipulation Download Parties filed stipulated request for 30-day extension of time to comply with the court's May 17, 2019 order. 05/17/2019 Order Download U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's motion to extend time to comply with November 20, 2018 order granted. 11/20/2018 Order Download U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service motion to alter or amend judgment granted in part. The court gave the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service more time to act in accordance with the court's September 21, 2018 decision. 09/21/2018 Order Download Listing withdrawal vacated and action remanded for preparation of revised rule. California Federal Court Vacated Withdrawal of Proposed Listing of Pacific Fisher as Threatened. The federal district court for the Northern District of California vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS’s) withdrawal in 2016 of a proposal to list the Pacific fisher as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. Although the plaintiffs cited climate change as a threat to the species in their complaint and motion papers, the court’s decision did not address climate change and remanded the matter to the FWS based on inadequate treatment of the threat of toxicants and on “flawed logic regarding population stability.” The court noted that it did not reach the plaintiffs’ “other criticisms regarding the Service’s treatment of other stressors” but said that “[t]his order, however, acknowledges that plaintiffs have raised plausible criticisms.” The court suggested that on remand the FWS “consider and address those further points made by plaintiffs as well.” 04/19/2018 Reply Download Reply filed by defendant-intervenors in support of cross-motion for summary judgment. 03/16/2018 Opposition Download Plaintiffs filed combined opposition to cross-motions for summary judgment and reply in support of motion for summary judgment. 01/24/2018 Motion for Summary Judgment Download Cross motion for summary judgment filed by defendant-intervenors American Forest Resource Council et al. 01/19/2018 Motion for Summary Judgment Download Cross motion for summary judgment filed by federal defendants. 11/03/2017 Motion for Summary Judgment Download Motion for summary judgment filed by plaintiffs. 10/19/2016 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Action Filed in California Federal Court to Challenge Decision Not to List Pacific Fisher as Threatened Species. The Center for Biological Diversity and three other organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Northern District of California challenging the withdrawal of the proposed designation of a distinct population segment of the fisher (the Pacific fisher) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The complaint described Pacific fishers as “slender mammals with long, bushy tails, closely related to minks, martens, and wolverines.” The plaintiffs charged that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had “inexplicably and illegally abandoned years of work” and that the withdrawal was contrary to the best scientific and commercial data available. The plaintiffs cited climate change as one of the threats to the Pacific fisher and its habitat. In their notice of intent to sue, the plaintiffs said that FWS had arbitrarily misconstrued uncertainty regarding the effects of climate change on fisher habitat as evidence that climate change was not contributing to significant habitat loss.