Save the Bull Trout v. Everson

Three conservation groups filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Montana to challenge the Bull Trout Recovery Plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015. The plaintiffs previously challenged the plan in the District of Oregon, which dismissed the case without prejudice. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal, and in July 2019, the district court in Oregon denied a motion to amend the complaint but left open the possibility that the plaintiffs could file a new complaint. In the District of Montana complaint, the plaintiffs asserted that the recovery plan failed to incorporate objective and measurable recovery criteria and failed to incorporate recovery criteria that addressed Endangered Species Act delisting factors. The complaint alleged that “[c]limate change has, and will continue to affect bull trout habitat,” with changes including “warmer air and water temperatures and reduced stream flows” that “will reduce available bull trout habitat, stress existing populations and allow more heat tolerant non-native species to out-compete bull trout.”