On behalf of our clients, the Center for Biological Diversity, Maricopa Audubon Society, and Mount Graham Coalition, we recently filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s chronic failure to protect and ensure the recovery of the Mount Graham Red Squirrel in violation of the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”). This suit represents another in a series efforts by our firm on behalf of these conservation organizations to obtain meaningful protections for the squirrel, which is now considered “the United States’ most endangered breeding population of terrestrial mammal.” Merrick et al., Endemic Population Response to Increasingly Severe Fire: A Cascade of Endangerment for the Mt. Graham Red Squirrel, 71 BioScience 161, 162 (2021). The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the ESA that arise from the federal government’s authorizations for vacation homes and a summer camp which are located in the scant remaining habitat for this critically imperiled species. For example, despite previously acknowledging the necessity of stringent setbacks around the squirrels’ middens (i.e., the focal points of the squirrels’ territories), the Defendant agencies have now decided—without explanation—to allow the species to be harassed within these important zones. The government’s disregard for the species is further evident in the terms of the Biological Opinions, which have been structured to wash the government's hands of any meaningful or transparent oversight in the future. More details about the plight of this species and the scope of the lawsuit can be found in the copy of the complaint—available here.