Late last month, the United States District Court for the District of Idaho denied preliminary injunctive relief in an Endangered Species Act case against the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and Forest Service, even though it found that “the required rational connection was not made in the [section] 7(d) determination,” because declarations submitted to the court after-the-fact provided a rational connection. See Western Watersheds Project v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, No. 4:13-cv-176 (June 26, 2013) (pdf).
In 2010, FWS issued a biological opinion and incidental take statement authorizing the U.S. Forest Service to permit grazing activities in habitat for the threatened bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). In 2012, due to changed circumstances, the Forest Service reinitiated consultation with FWS. Despite not having completed a new...
