Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center v. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

ORDER ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Re: Dkt. Nos. 53, 63,

The Endangered Species Act makes it unlawful for any person to “take” members of an endangered or threatened species. There is an exception: a person may obtain a permit to take a species, if such taking is incidental to the proposed activity and the applicant presents plans to minimize and mitigate its impact. Here, the primary issue is whether or not a permit applicant should be allowed to piggyback off of the conservation work of a non-applicant neighbor.

Plaintiffs Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Center for Biological Diversity, and Klamath Forest Alliance (collectively “KS Wild”) allege that defendants U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (collectively “the Services”) improperly issued 50-year incidental take permits to defendant-interve-nor Fruit Growers Supply Company to take two “threatened” species: the northern spotted owl and the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon. KS Wild alleges multiple violations of the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

KS Wild’s key allegation is that Fruit Growers wrongfully obtained an…