A district court held that FWS applied an improper standard when it concluded there was not adequate scientific evidence to warrant listing the Yellowstone bison population under the ESA.…
The Eleventh Circuit held that the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of a captive orca named Lolita doesn’t seriously threaten her life. Animal activists sued the aquarium, alleging it is perpetrating…
The Ninth Circuit held that FWS did not violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) when it authorized the taking of the barred owl to help the recovery of the spotted owl. The spotted owl was…
The Ninth Circuit held that portions of Idaho’s Agricultural Security Act violate the First Amendment. The law, enacted after a secretly-filmed expose of operations at an Idaho dairy farm went…
A district court held that USDA Wildlife Services did not violate NEPA with its lethal wolf management policy in Idaho. In 2011, the gray wolf was delisted under the ESA in Idaho; as a result,…
A district court held that the state of Texas cannot challenge the listing of the golden-cheeked warbler as endangered under the ESA. The state brought a lawsuit against FWS alleging that the…
A district court held that a Forest Service fire salvage restoration project could proceed despite its risk to protected species. The Cedar Fire began on August 16, 2016, and burned for three…
The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of an injunction to halt a logging project in Oregon. A conservation group brought a citizen suit under the ESA challenging a logging project…
The D.C. Circuit held that the Park Service did not violate NEPA when it authorized recreational hunts of elk in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Teton and the National Elk Refuge (…
The D.C. Circuit held that the USDA's decision to alter territorial lines of the Devil's Garden Wild Horse Territory section of the Modoc National Forest was in violation of NEPA. Since…