LOS ANGELES (CN) — An environmental advocacy group sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday over its decision last year not to list two species of Joshua trees as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
WildEarth Guardians said in a complaint filed in federal court in Los Angeles that the case for listing Joshua trees as threatened has only grown stronger in the years since a federal judge ruled in 2021 that Fish and Wildlife's decision not to do so lacked scientific support. And the service, the group says, "has once again unreasonably disregarded the best available science and otherwise acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner."
After U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II, a George W. Bush appointee, sided with WildEarth Guardians in their previous lawsuit and ordered the service to reconsider its findings, Fish and Wildlife concluded last year that the iconic trees don't face any serious threats.
While noting climate change, wildfires, drought, and the invasive grasses as the biggest threats to Joshua trees, the service found that none of those factors will profoundly affect the population or range of Joshua trees' habitat.
In reaching this conclusion, WildEarth Guardians claims, the service relied on the observation that the two Joshua tree species, the eastern and the western Joshua tree, still currently occupy most of their historical ranges.
But this reliance on occupancy is misguided, according to the nonprofit group, because it pertains to mature trees, most of which were established during pre-industrial climate conditions, and these already established adult trees can persist in degraded, climatically unsuitable habitats.
"Projected temperature increases and prolonged drought conditions over the next 80 years may not immediately kill off adult Joshua trees, but the best available science shows these climatic changes will preclude successful recruitment of new Joshua trees throughout most of both species’ ranges by 2070-2099," according to WildEarth Guardians. "The service understands that these projections from the best available science indicate Joshua trees will become functionally extinct in 66 to 99% of their range between 2070 to 2099."
Representatives of Fish and Wildlife did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday evening.
The western Joshua tree last year was given a measure of government safeguarding after California lawmakers passed the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, providing the species permanent protection, albeit with some carve-outs.
The fight for the survival of the iconic trees has been a battle between environmentalists on the one hand and developers and farmers on the other. In 2022, a state court judge rebuffed an attempt by business groups to stop the western Joshua tree from being included on the state's list of endangered species.
The state's Fish and Game Commission has been reluctant to put the trees permanently on the state's list of protected species, rather than on an interim basis as it has been since 2020. In 2022. the commission deadlocked on the issue, and last year, it postponed a decision pending the outcome of the legislation proposed by the Newsom administration.
The western Joshua tree now has similar protections as under the California Endangered Species Act, but with certain permitting mechanisms for renewable energy and housing projects within their range. The law also requires the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to prepare a conservation plan for the trees by the end of this year.
The growing popularity of Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California has spurred a building boom in the town of Joshua Tree and adjacent communities, according to environmentalist organizations, and as a result, many of the namesake trees have been cut down to make way for vacation rentals and second homes.
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