Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

ORDER RE: SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS

SUSAN ILLSTON, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs are eleven environmental organizations 1 who have sued the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”). The BLM manages a vast area of public land known as the California Desert Conservation Area (“CDCA”), home to a number of protected species, including the threatened desert tortoise and an endangered plant, the Lane Mountain milk-vetch. FWS consults with the BLM and is required to evaluate BLM actions that affect these protected species.

Plaintiffs’ claims arise out of…