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

Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Nevada seeking to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to issue a 12-month finding on a September 2023 petition to list Tecopa bird’s beak as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The complaint described Tecopa bird’s beak as “a rare wildflower with limited distribution which grows in alkali wetlands in western Nevada and eastern California.” The complaint alleged that the plant is threatened by overconsumption of groundwater related to agriculture, geothermal energy development, mining, utility-scale solar development, and residential sprawl, and that other threats include livestock grazing, impacts from off-highway vehicles, invasive species, and climate change.