ELR Citation: ELR 20212
No(s). 04-16563 (9th Cir. Oct 18, 2006)

The court reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) concerning the listing of the Sierra Nevada Mountain yellow-legged frog under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The agency determined that listing the frog as an endangered species was “warranted but precluded” under §4(b)(3)(B) of the ESA. When an agency makes a “warranted but precluded finding,” the ESA requires that it publish such a decision in the Federal Register together with a description and evaluation of the reasons and data on which its finding is based. Here, the FWS published its warranted but precluded finding separate from the description and evaluation of its reasons. Because the FWS did not meet the procedural requirements of the Act, the court reversed and remanded the grant of summary judgment.