ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20007
No(s). 23-3026 (9th Cir. Jan 10, 2025)

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for FWS in a challenge to its decision not to list the Tucson shovel-nosed snake as endangered under the ESA. An environmental group petitioned FWS to list the species in 2004, and again in 2020 after the Service rejected the initial petition. The group's second petition argued FWS mistakenly interpreted a USGS study to expand the snake's range and wrongly included snakes that shared genetic rather than phenotypic characteristics, but the Service determined listing was still not warranted. The group filed suit, and a district court concluded FWS acted reasonably in determining that listing the snake as endangered was not warranted. The appellate court agreed, finding the Service's decision flowed directly from research suggesting the snake was best distinguished by genetics at the subspecies level, which in turn required construing its range based on records of genetically, rather than physically, similar snakes. It affirmed summary judgment for FWS.