Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Friends of Animals, the Audubon Society of Greater Denver, and Center for Biological Diversity reached an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and other federal defendants to settle two lawsuits challenging the defendants’ failure to designate critical habitat for the western distinct population segment of the yellow-billed cuckoo, which faces threats from climate change among other factors. This lawsuit was brought by Center for Biological Diversity. The <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/friends-of-animals-v-us-fish-wildlife-service/">other lawsuit</a> was brought by Friends of Animals and the Audubon Society of Greater Denver. The FWS published a 90-day finding on a delisting petition for the western DPS of the yellow-billed cuckoo, concluding that the petition presented substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that delisting may be warranted due to information on additional habitat being used by the species. The parties agreed to timeframes for a process of considering critical habitat that depends on whether and when the FWS publishes a 12-month finding that delisting is warranted.

Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Colorado asking the court to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for the threatened western yellow-billed cuckoo. Primary factors threatening the species include loss and degradation of habitat from altered watercourse hydrology, overgrazing, and agricultural encroachment, while climate change, pesticides, wildfires, and patch habitat pose additional threats. The western yellow-billed cuckoo was listed as threatened in 2014, but a proposed rule designating critical habitat in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming was never finalized.