Suit filed over bull trout
September 6, 2013
Cascadia Wildlands says it has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management over “their failure to consult and consider the impacts of projects and actions on the critical habitat of federally threatened bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) throughout its range in the Pacific Northwest.”

“As a fish that requires cold, clean water and complex aquatic structures, the presence or absence of bull trout in our streams and waterways is a true indication of whether or not we are fulfilling our obligation to protect, maintain and enhance our aquatic heritage,” said Nick Cady, Cascadia’s legal director. “The current management plans for bull trout were put into place in the 1990s and were only supposed to serve as interim guidance for 18 months. We have been waiting 18 years for the federal government to release management plans for this important and sensitive fish.”

Once plentiful, bull trout were found in 60 percent of the Columbia River basin but now occur in less than half their historical range, with populations remaining in portions of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. In the Klamath River basin, bull trout occur in 21 percent of their historical range. They were listed in 1999 as a threatened species throughout their range in the lower 48 U.S. states.

In September 2005, the USFWS published a rule designating 3,828 miles of streams and 143,218 acres of lakes in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana and 985 miles of shoreline in Washington as critical habitat for bull trout, including the Kootenai River.

That rule was challenged in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. In March 2009, the agency requested a voluntary remand of the rule from the court to address irregularities in the rule-making process and outcome, as identified in a 2008 Investigative Report by the Department of the Interior Inspector General.

The court granted the request and directed the agency to complete a proposed revision by December 31, 2009, with a final designation to be delivered to the Federal Register by September 30, 2010.