Legal Pursuits

The John Muir Project goes to court to enforce federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Forest Management Act (NFMA), and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in order to protect rare and imperiled wildlife species and their habitat.

Current Litigation

Listing Petitions

Federal Endangered Species Act

BBWO_Fed_CoverBlack-Backed Woodpecker

Protections needed for the California/Oregon and Black Hills populations of the rare and fire-dependent Black-Backed Woodpecker. Petition filed under the Federal Endangered Species Act to list these subspecies as threatened in May of 2012.

SpottedOwl_Fed_CoverCalifornia Spotted Owl

California Spotted Owl populations plummeting due to mechanical “thinning” and post-fire logging in the Sierra Nevada. Petition filed under the Federal Endangered Species Act to list the species as threatened in December of 2014.

California Endangered Species Act

BBWO_California_CoverBlack-Backed Woodpecker

Thousands of acres of post-fire habitat on private and state lands necessary to maintain populations of Black-backed Woodpeckers are lost to logging every year. Petition filed under the California Endangered Species Act to list the Black-backed as threatened in 2010.