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Save the Bull Trout v. Everson

Filing Date: 2019
Case Categories:
  • Federal Statutory Claims
    • Endangered Species Act and Other Wildlife Protection Statutes
Principal Laws:
Endangered Species Act (ESA)
Description: Challenge to the Bull Trout Recovery Plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015.
  • Save the Bull Trout v. Everson
    Docket number(s): 9:19-cv-00184
    Court/Admin Entity: D. Mont.
    Case Documents:
    Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary
    11/18/2019 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Conservation Groups Launched New Challenge to Bull Trout Recovery Plan. Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Montana to challenge the Bull Trout Recovery Plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015. The plaintiffs previously challenged the plan in the District of Oregon, which dismissed the case without prejudice. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, and in July 2019, the district court in Oregon denied a motion to amend the complaint but left open the possibility that the plaintiffs could file a new complaint. In the District of Montana complaint, the plaintiffs asserted that the recovery plan failed to incorporate objective and measurable recovery criteria and failed to incorporate recovery criteria that addressed Endangered Species Act delisting factors. The complaint alleged that “[c]limate change has, and will continue to affect bull trout habitat,” with changes including “warmer air and water temperatures and reduced stream flows” that “will reduce available bull trout habitat, stress existing populations and allow more heat tolerant non-native species to out-compete bull trout.”

© 2022 · Sabin Center for Climate Change Law · U.S. Litigation Chart made in collaboration with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

The materials on this website are intended to provide a general summary of the law and do not constitute legal advice. You should consult with counsel to determine applicable legal requirements in a specific fact situation.