RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

August 2006

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Ninth Circuit Upholds U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Refusal to Designate Critical Habitat For Unarmored Threespine Stickleback
Center for Biological Diversity, et al. v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, et al., ___ F.3d ___

On June 5, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) proposed designation of critical habitat for an endangered species listed prior to the 1982 amendments to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) did not establish a mandatory to confirm that designation. The court held that the Service did not abuse its discretion when it decided not to designate critical habitat for the endangered unarmored threespine stickleback (stickleback) prior to issuing an incidental take statement (ITS) to a mining company whose project could have impacted stickleback habitat.