WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to issue a final listing rule for the regal fritillary, which the complaint described as a “large, nonmigratory butterfly once common to our nation’s tallgrass prairie habitats.” The complaint alleged that, “largely due to cropland conversion,” the butterfly “has been relegated to small, isolated fragments of degraded habitat, with conditions expected to worsen over the coming years from climate change-driven droughts.” The complaint alleged that FWS proposed listing the eastern regal fritillary as endangered and the western regal fritillary as threatened in August 2024 more than 10 years after WildEarth Guardians petitioned for the listing of both subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. The complaint alleged that the proposed rule listed multiple threats to the subspecies, “with each threat exacerbated by the ongoing and projects impacts of climate change and drought.” The complaint alleged that the final listing determination was due August 6, 2025. The court asked the court to compel FWS to publish a final listing determination by a date certain.

Lawsuit to compel final listing rule for the regal fritillary, a “large, nonmigratory butterfly" native to the U.S.'s tallgrass prairie habitats.

WildEarth Guardians v. Burgum

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Lawsuit Filed to Compel Final Listing Rule for Nonmigratory Butterfly

Filed

United States of America

District of Columbia

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Lawsuit Filed to Compel Final Listing Rule for Nonmigratory Butterfly

Risk

Impacted group

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance