Defenders' Experts
Full Legal Docket
Defenders' uses conservation law to advocate for the protection of wildlife, public lands and water and wetlands. Learn more about Defenders’ legal work by clicking on case titles below, or use the left hand navigation to search for cases by subject.
Polar Bear Litigation
Defenders has provided the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with notice that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act with the issuance of the rule accompanying the federal listing of the polar bear as threatened on May 15, 2008.
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, which requires the removal of wolves known or suspected to have killed livestock on three separate occasions during a one-year span regardless of their genetic value to the species, the leading cause of wolf removals from the wild.
Bison and Elk Refuge Management Plan
Challenge to the Bison and Elk Management Plan for the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park on the grounds that the artificial feeding of elk in the face of high disease prevalence and ecological damage violates the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act by undermining both the health of elk populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the biological integrity of the National Elk Refuge itself. In addition, the case challenges the Final Environmental Impact Statement as violating the National Environmental Policy Act for failing to disclose and analyze the impacts of the decision to continue artificial feeding of elk and bison.
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
Challenge against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 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.
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.
ORV Management in Big Cypress National Preserve
Challenge to the National Park Service’s decision to re-open off-road vehicle (ORV) trails in the Bear Island Unit of the Big Cypress National Preserve. Re-opening of the trails goes against the Service’s ORV Management Plan, and has an adverse impact on the highly sensitive habitat of the remaining endangered Florida panthers.
Border Fence Construction: San Pedro Riparian NCA
Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, successfully granted to halt border fence construction in San Pedro Riparian NCA. Subsequent challenge of constitutionality of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff's waiver of the Temporary Restraining Order to resume construction.
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.
National Forest Management Plan: Bush Administration Revisions
Challenge to Bush Administration's forest management regulations which roll back protections for wildlife and their habitat in America's National Forest System.
Woodland Caribou & Snowmobiles
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.
California Vernal Pool Critical Habitat
Lawsuit challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers' critical habitat exclusions for 15 vernal pool species in central California.
Roadless Rule Repeal
Challenge to Bush Administration's repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule which protects America's roadless wilderness from logging and fragmentation.
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.
Federal Wetlands
Amicus brief filed in U.S. Supreme Court case addressing whether the Commerce Clause permits Congress to regulate intrastate wetlands and tributaries under the Clean Water Act.
North Atlantic Right Whale
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
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.
Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction
10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns lower court's ruling that Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroductions were illegal.
Rio Grande Silvery Minnow
Litigation to compel federal agencies to manage water projects along the Middle Rio Grande in a manner that provides adequate flow for the health of the river and the survival of the endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow and other fish and wildlife.
