Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt

Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society agreed to a settlement resolving their claims that federal defendants failed to take actions to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service agreed to certain steps to inspect, maintain, and repair a boundary fence, and also to inspect riparian fencing and exclosures within jumping mouse critical habitat and to remove horses and cattle when they are found within exclosures. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to prepare a draft recovery plan for the jumping mouse by the end of January 2022, and to finalize the plan by the end of January 2023. The plaintiffs alleged that the jumping mouse’s habitat was threatened by drought and wildfires, both exacerbated by climate change; the Forest Service viewed climate change effects as part of the baseline, not as a result of the management plan for the national forest.

Center for Biological Diversity and Maricopa Audubon Society filed a lawsuit challenging federal defendants’ failures to take actions to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. The complaint alleged that a 2014 Species Special Assessment Report identified sources of habitat loss for the jumping mouse that included drought and wildfires, both exacerbated by climate change. In correspondence to the plaintiffs, the U.S. Forest Service declined to reinitiate consultation under the Endangered Species Act concerning the impacts of the ongoing implementation of the Land Management Plan (LMP) for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest on the jumping mouse. The Forest Service indicated that effects of climate change and other effects were part of the baseline for the LMP, not the result of the LMP. The complaint asserted violations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act.