On October 10, 2024, the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) unanimously voted to designate the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea) as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species...more
On April 2, 2025, California’s Fifth Appellate District issued a decision in Bring Back the Kern v. City of Bakersfield (April 2, 2025, F087487) (2025 WL 98443). The Court held the “self-executing” reasonableness requirement...more
The California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) accepted public comment on the draft Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan (Draft Conservation Plan) at its February 12, 2025 meeting, but no formal action was taken. As...more
On December 12, 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife released its draft Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan (Draft Conservation Plan) to the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission), as required by...more
On December 12, 2024, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) released its draft Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan (Draft Conservation Plan) to the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission), as...more
SB 684, which took effect on July 1 of this year, provides for streamlined, ministerial processing of certain residential projects in multifamily zoning districts consisting of no more than 10 single-family homes. The law...more
At its Oct. 9-–10, 2024, meeting in Sacramento, the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) unanimously voted to make the western burrowing owl a “candidate” species under the California Endangered Species Act...more
The western burrowing owl was just recently elevated to a “candidate species” under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). As a candidate species, the owl now...more
At its October 10 meeting, the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) unanimously found that a petition to list the western burrowing owl as an endangered or threatened species in California provides sufficient...more
The western burrowing owl secured temporary protection this Thursday under California’s Endangered Species Act. The state Fish and Game Commission voted to give the owls candidate status and temporary protection, expected to...more
California is a biologically confused state. Section 45 of the California Fish & Game Code defines "fish" to mean a "wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals". ...more
As detailed in our previous Legal Alert, six conservation groups filed a petition with the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) on March 5, 2024 to request the implementation of legal protections for five...more
Chemical and manufacturing groups sued the federal government on Monday over a landmark drinking water standard that would require cleanup of certain PFAS, so-called forever chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and...more
A California Supreme Court ruling will allow student housing at University of California to be built at Berkeley's historic People's Park. In February 2023, a state appeals court in San Francisco had sided with the opponents,...more
The California Independent System Operator’s board on May 23 approved a $6.1 billion, 10-year transmission plan that includes projects to deliver offshore wind to customers. Transmission projects to access clean energy...more
On March 5, 2024, the Center for Biological Diversity and several other groups submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission (the Commission) to list the western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea)...more
In June, I and many others took note of an opinion issued by the California Court of Appeal that concluded a bumble bee could be designated as a fish as defined by Section 45 of the California Fish & Game Code. Almond All. of...more
On June 16, 2022, a vote by the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) on whether the Western Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) should be listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) resulted...more
Nearly seven years ago, I commented on a California statute defining "fish" to mean "a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals". Cal. Fish & Game Code § 45. ...more
In July 2021, CalTrout submitted a petition to the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) to list a population of the fish Oncorhynchus mykiss, referred to as the Southern California Steelhead or Southern Steelhead,...more
The Sacramento Superior Court upheld a challenge to a decision by the California Fish and Game Commission to designate four subspecies of bumble bees as candidates for protection under the California Endangered Species Act...more
California grants western Joshua trees temporary endangered species protections - Bullet Los Angeles Times – September 22 - The California Fish and Game Commission this Tuesday granted temporary endangered species...more
The California Fish and Game Commission deferred the decision on whether to make the western Joshua tree a candidate for listing to a special meeting in September 2020. In a hearing on August 20, 2020, the Commission heard a...more
On February 21, 2020, the California Fish and Game Commission (Commission) voted 4-0 to adopt a new Delta fisheries management policy and a revised Striped bass policy supported by Commission staff and the Department of Fish...more