Defenders of Wildlife v. Jewell

The federal district court for the District of Montana vacated the withdrawal by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) of a proposal to list the distinct population segment of the North American wolverine as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court described at length the 20-year period over which the FWS considered whether to list the DPS. The process culminated in the withdrawal of the proposed listing 18 months after it was proposed. In withdrawing the proposal, the FWS reversed course on its previous determinations regarding climate change’s impacts on the wolverine and said it did not have sufficient information to suggest the wolverine population would be at risk of extinction due to climate change. The court agreed with the plaintiffs that the FWS unlawfully ignored the best available science by dismissing the threat to the wolverine posed by climate change and also by dismissing the threat to the wolverine posed by genetic isolation and small population size. The court remanded the matter to the FWS, stating: “It is the undersigned's view that if there is one thing required of the [FWS] under the ESA, it is to take action at the earliest possible, defensible point in time to protect against the loss of biodiversity within our reach as a nation. For the wolverine, that time is now.”

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