Groups Sue Feds to Save Fairy Shrimp

SAN DIEGO (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service defied court orders to allow the City of San Diego to destroy 11 acres of habitat for the endangered San Diego fairy shrimp in its Crescent Heights development, six environmental groups claim in Federal Court.

The fairy shrimp lives in vernal pools. It spawns and lives its brief life when the pools fill up after rain, then burrows into the mud and lies dormant.

The plaintiffs cite numerous lawsuits and court orders and that found the city of San Diego's Habitat Conservation Plan deficient and illegal. In this lawsuit, the groups sued only the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for issuing incidental take permits.

Plaintiffs - the Center For Biological Diversity, the California Native Plant Society, the Sierra Club, Preserve Wild Santee, the San Diego Audubon Society, and the San Diego Herpetological Society - are represented by Marco Gonzalez with the Coast Law Group of Encinitas, assisted by attorneys in Denver, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco.

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