Defenders' Experts
Species Protection Docket
Defenders seeks the most effective legal strategies to protect and conserve America's imperiled wildlife. This includes vigorously enforcing the protections of the Endangered Species Act.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf- Delisting Challenge 2009
Challenge against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 2009 decision to delist the northern Rockies wolf population, thus removing their protections under the Endangered Species Act and relinquishing management to the states of Idaho and Montana.
Critical Habitat for the Piping Plover
Defenders of Wildlife is defending the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to designate critical habitat for wintering piping plover in portions of Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Pea Island Wildlife Refuge.
Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico Fishery
Defenders challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service for its ongoing violation of the Endangered Species Act due to the unauthorized capture, injury, and death of threatened and endangered sea turtles in the bottom-set longline sector of the government authorized Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery.
Woodland Caribou Critical Habitat
Litigation against the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their failure to respond to a petition submitted in December 2002 by Defenders and a coalition of conservation organizations to designate critical habitat for the endangered woodland caribou under the ESA.
Section 7 Regulations
Litigation against final regulations issued on November 11, 2008 that eliminate the requirement that federal agencies consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service on potentially thousands of federal actions that may adversely affect listed species or their critical habitat.
El Lobo: Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery
Defenders challenges the US Fish and Wildlife Service's 2003 decision to cede responsibility of Mexican Wolf recovery to an Adaptive Management Oversight Committee, and challenges Standard Operating Procedure 13.
Failure to List the Wolverine
Challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services decision not to list the wolverine as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act despite fragmentation of the population, and threats to the species including trapping, snowmobiles, and loss of habitat due to climate change.
Right Whale Entanglement
Challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to delay the effective date of regulations requiring the use of fishing gear designed to protect highly endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Navy Sonar Amicus
Amicus brief filed in Winter v. NRDC, the "Navy sonar" case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Right Whale Ship Strikes 2008
Litigation arguing that the National Marine Fisheries Service has abrogated its duties under the ESA and Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect and recover the North Atlantic right whale by delaying the promulgation of regulations to establish speed restrictions and reduce the threat of ship strikes to the critically endangered species.
Jaguar Recovery Plan
Challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's decision not to prepare a recovery plan for the endangered jaguar in the face of imminent threats posed to their habitat and key migratory passages along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf- Delisting Challenge 2008
Challenge against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 2008 decision to delist the northern Rockies wolf population, thus removing their protections under the Endangered Species Act and relinquishing management to the states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Exxon Valdez Amicus
Amicus brief filed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation. The brief emphasizes the enormity and seriousness of the spill, the inadequacy of Exxon's clean-up effort, and the ongoing impacts to the environment.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf- Management Challenge
Challenge to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's updated regulation for the management of gray wolves in the northern Rockies that significantly reduces the protections for gray wolves in the region.
Mexican Gray Wolf FOIA Redactions
A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agricultures Wildlife Services to force the agency to turn over documents relating to removals of Mexican gray wolves due to alleged depredation on livestock.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore
Lawsuit to compel the National Park Service to manage beach driving responsibly at Cape Hatteras National Seashore to protect the threatened piping plover, threatened and endangered sea turtles, other species of waterbirds and shorebirds, and their habitat.
Canada Lynx
Defenders has been working for more than 15 years to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Canada Lynx as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and to designate an appropriate critical habitat for the species. Defenders litigation efforts led to a listing in 2000 and a designation of 29 million acres of critical habitat in 2009.
Woodland Caribou
Snowmobile use in the Selkirk Mountains, particularly the caribou Recovery Area, has increased rapidly over the past several years, and is expected to continue. As more (and more powerful) snowmobiles press further into caribou habitat, the potential increases for caribou to be directly harmed and displaced from key areas.
Alaska Wolf
Lawsuit challenging Alaska's predator control plans which permit the aerial hunting of wolves in areas across the state
Red Knot Emergency Listing
Lawsuit challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to emergency list the red knot, a shorebird that has suffered a 90% decline in total population over the last ten years.
Florida Black Bear
Challenge to FWS decision to deny a threatened listing of the Florida black bear.
Right Whale Ship Strikes 2006
Lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries and the Coast Guard for failure to protect North Atlantic right whales from collisions with ships.
African Antelope
Challenge to a Fish and Wildlife Service rule that creates a legal market through which three species of highly endangered African antelope, trophy hunted on American ranches, may be traded.
Flat Tailed Horned Lizard
Over a decade of litigation challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to list the flat-tailed horned lizard under the Endangered Species Act.
Wolf Downlisting Challenge
Challenge to FWS's plan in 2003 to lessen federal protections for wolves throughout the lower 48 States despite the species need for additional protections.
Protecting the Pygmy Owl
Litigation since 1992 to list the Arizona population of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl as an endangered species.
Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction
10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns lower court's ruling that Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroductions were illegal.
