California Forestry Ass'n v. California Fish & Game Commission

Opinion

ROME, J.

California has been at the forefront of enacting legislation to protect endangered and rare animals—first doing so in 1970. (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Fish & Game Com. (1994) 28 Cal.App.4th 1104, 1111 [33 Cal.Rptr.2d 904].) Fourteen years later, that legislation was repealed and replaced with the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) (Fish & G. Code, 1 § 2050 et seq.). (Natural Resources Defense Council, at p. 1111.)

In enacting the CESA, the Legislature made clear this state’s policy to protect any endangered or threatened “species or subspecies” if at risk of…