Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland

The parties agreed that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would submit critical habitat determinations for the 49 listed endangered species by 2027 for three species and 2028 for the remaining species.

Center for Biological Diversity filed lawsuit in federal court in Hawai‘i to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to designate critical habitat for 49 species listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2016. The species include 39 plant species and 10 animal species. The plaintiff alleged that the failure to designate critical habitat was made “more egregious” because the FWS had already recognized that the species’ already restricted habitats were threatened by urbanization, nonnative feral ungulates and plants, wildlife, and water extraction. The plaintiff further alleged that “habitat loss and degradation are expected to be exacerbated by climate change through sea level rise and coastal inundation,” leaving these “highly endemic species in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of their range.”