Center for Biological Diversity v. Nesvik

Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat for the Rufa Red Knot, which FWS listed as threatened in 2014. The Endangered Species Act provides that critical habitat must be designated concurrently with the listing of a species as threatened or endangered and allows an extension of up to one year when critical habitat is not determinable at the time of listing. The complaint described the Red Knot as a “migratory shorebird known for its migrations with nonstop flights across great distances and named for its rusty plumage during spring migration” from as far south as the southern tip of South America to breeding grounds in the Arctic. The complaint alleged that “a variety of factors” threaten the Red Knot with extinction, including habitat destruction and modification from sea level rise and coastal development and disasters such as hurricanes and oil spills.