The Environmental Defense Center recently achieved a successful settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on behalf of our watershed and fish advocacy client California Trout. We sued Reclamation a little over a year ago for its failure to comply with its obligations under the Endangered Species Act to protect the few remaining federally endangered Southern California steelhead in our region that live in Hilton Creek, a tributary of the Santa Ynez River just below Bradbury Dam.
Last week was Sea Otter Awareness Week and what better way to celebrate our furry friends than U.S District Court Judge John F. Walter upholding the Fish & Wildlife Services’ (FWS) 2012 decision to terminate the “no-otter zone” against a legal challenge from the Pacific Legal Foundation? EDC had intervened in support of the FWS decision on behalf of The Otter Project, Los Angeles Waterkeeper, and itself.
