JUDGE ORDERS FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT IMPERILED O`AHU FOREST BIRD'S CRITICAL HABITAT
In a ruling from the bench this morning, Judge Helen Gillmor of the federal district court in Honolulu ordered the Secretary of the Interior and the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") to designate critical habitat for the O`ahu `elepaio (a native forest bird) by October 31, 2001, rejecting the federal defendants' request to delay designation until October 2004.
VICTORY FOR IMPERILED HAWAIIAN INVERTEBRATES
On June 2, 2000, Judge Susan Oki Mollway of Hawai'i's federal district court ordered Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") Jamie Clark to designate "critical habitat" for four rare invertebrate species found only in Hawai'i.
CONSERVATIONISTS ASK FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TO PROTECT CABINET-YAAK GRIZZLIES
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of six conservation groups, has asked the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to issue emergency regulations protecting grizzly bears in the Cabinet Mountains and around the Yaak River in northern Idaho and Montana. In a petition sent to FWS today, the groups request additional legal protection for bears in the Cabinet-Yaak, including reclassification of the population from its current status as "threatened" to "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act, and suspension of permits allowing for the destruction of the bears' habitat.