Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland

Conservation groups and federal defendants agreed to a settlement agreement pursuant to which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must submit for publication in the Federal Register a final determination of critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle by May 8, 2023. The beetle was listed as endangered in October 2016, at which time the FWS concluded that critical habitat was not determinable. The FWS published a proposed rule in September 2021 to designate 1,977 acres in Miami-Dade County as critical habitat for the beetle. The conservation groups filed this lawsuit in November 2022 to compel final designation of critical habitat, citing the Endangered Species Act’s requirement that a final regulation implementing critical habitat designation be published within one year of the publication of the proposed regulation. They alleged that the beetle and its habitat were threatened by urban development and other factors, including climate change and sea level rise.

Center for Biological Diversity and three other groups filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Southern District of Florida seeking to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for the Miami tiger beetle, which the FWS listed as endangered in October 2016. The complaint alleged that the beetle and its habitat in “patches of pine rockland … in Miami-Dade County” were threatened by urban development and other factors, including climate change and sea level rise. In a stipulation resolving earlier litigation, the FWS agreed to issue a final determination on designation of critical habitat for the beetle by August 2021.