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

Center for Biological Diversity and Nokuse Education, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Middle District of Florida challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision not to list the gopher tortoise as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The plaintiffs alleged that the gopher tortoise is a keystone species whose habitats are threatened by “encroaching development, poor habitat management, and climate change.” The allegations included that “[s]ea level rise driven by climate change will directly destroy (inundate with water) and degrade coastal gopher tortoise habitat while forcing human migration to inland and upland areas where gopher tortoises live, displacing the tortoises from their already diminishing habitat.” The complaint asserted that the decision not to list the tortoise violated the Endangered Species Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.