Of interest to mineral projects, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) continues to attempt to revise some of its Endangered Species Act (ESA) implementing regulations to align with the relatively recent decision from the Supreme Court in Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Serv. (139 S. Ct. 361 (2018)). Today, it proposed new … Continue Reading
Secretary of the Interior Zinke has directed that the Bureau of Land Management immediately begin implementing the recommendations in his Sage-Grouse Review Team’s report, which was was released today, concerning the 2015 greater sage-grouse amendments to federal land use management plans. (Prior post on Sage-Grouse Review Team here.) Among other things, such as coordinating federal … Continue Reading
Late Wednesday Secretary of the Interior Zinke signed Secretarial Order 3353 establishing a Sage-Grouse Review Team to review the Obama Administration’s 2015 amendments to federal land use management plans. To avoid listing the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act, those plan amendments had proposed that over 10 million acres of “sagebrush focal areas” on … Continue Reading
In a speech at the Rocky Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced yesterday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will not list the greater sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Finding that protection under the ESA is no longer warranted due to an “unprecedented conservation partnership,” the USFWS announced that it was … Continue Reading
Via my colleagues Barbara Craig, Ryan Steen and Sarah Stauffer Curtiss: On October 28, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) proposed to list the Bi-State distinct population segment (“Bi-State DPS”) of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) and to designate critical habitat for the Bi-State … Continue Reading
On September 4, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) jointly proposed new regulations governing the issuance of “incidental take statements” (ITSs) under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The purpose of these proposed regulations is to codify existing agency practices regarding the identification of take … Continue Reading
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in the case of Karuk Tribe of California v. United States Forest Service, 681 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2012). In that case, the Ninth Circuit held that the Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to consult with wildlife … Continue Reading
On December 5, 2012, join Stoel Rives attorneys Barbara D. Craig and Sara E. Bergan, along with several other experts, as they discuss “Sage Grouse and the Legal Landscape,” at the Northwest Mining Association conference in Spokane, Washington. Craig will moderate the panel, guiding the speakers through various topics including: Federal and State Design and … Continue Reading
