Institute for Regional Conservation v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The Institute for Regional Conservation and two other organizations filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Southern District of Florida seeking to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a decision regarding the organizations’ 2022 petition to list the ghost orchid as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The organizations alleged that the ghost orchid faces many threats, including “poaching and modifications to its habitat due to hydrological changes, wildfires, sea level rise, and severe storms and hurricanes.”