Looks like Christmas came early, again, for the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD).  Based on a petition submitted by CBD, the California Fish and Game Commission voted earlier this month to designate the tricolored blackbird as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act (ESA).  The tricolored blackbird now enjoys the same legal protections, including the “take” prohibition, that apply to endangered or threatened species under the California ESA.

Within the next 12 months, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will prepare a status report with a listing recommendation.  Based on staff comments at the candidacy hearing, it appears that report will take the full 12 months to prepare.  Consequently, the Commission would likely make its final determination to list (or not to list) the tricolored blackbird as endangered at a public hearing in early 2017.
Continue Reading Your Tricolored Blackbird Problem Just Got Worse With Candidate Listing Under the California ESA

While many of us were busy hitting refresh for those great Cyber Monday deals, the California Supreme Court quietly issued its decision on the Newhall Ranch project.  In a decision reminiscent of the snail darter era, the Court held that “fully protected fish” are just that — fully protected under California law from all forms of incidental “take” resulting from a development project.  The Court also found that project opponents had exhausted their administrative remedies by submitting comments during an “optional comment period.”  Further, the Court found inadequacies in the “business-as-usual” analysis of GHG impacts from the project.  Stay tuned for a post later this week from one of my air quality colleagues on the implications of the GHG analysis.

I won’t bore you with the long history of this litigation again and again, but in 2010 the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) issued an incidental take permit and master streambed alteration agreement to facilitate the build out of the Newhall Ranch project, a mixed-use development project on nearly 12,000 acres in LA County.  Permitting and litigation for the project has been ongoing for over 15 years.

The opposition’s battle cry has consistently been the project’s potential negative impacts to multitudes of fauna and flora.  The showdown before the Court, however, involved only one tiny fish: the unarmored threespine stickleback (stickleback).  While the name may not scream “poster species,” the stickleback has “fully protected” status under California law.  Consequently, the California Fish & Game Code prohibits the “take” of stickleback, i.e. a person may not “hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill” or attempt any of those actions.
Continue Reading Take of Fully Protected Fish Stops Large Housing Development Project in LA County