Lawsuit Filed to Bring Montana Grayling Back From Brink of Extinction

The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, Butte resident Pat Munday and former Montana fishing guide George Wuerthner filed a lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's latest decision to deny Endangered Species Act protection to a unique population of Arctic grayling in Montana. These river-dwelling relatives of trout and salmon now inhabit less than 5 percent of their historic range, with a last refuge in one short stretch of the Big Hole River. The groups are represented by Earthjustice in Bozeman. The Service first determined the grayling warranted endangered status in 1994 and reaffirmed that conclusion in 2010, but reversed course in August 2014 withholding protection from the rare and beautiful relative of trout and salmon. In denying the grayling protection, the agency argued that voluntary efforts by private landowners and the state of Montana, guided by a conservation agreement in place since 2006, have alleviated threats to the fish's survival. Although many individual projects to improve habitat have been completed under the agreement, the grayling continues to face numerous threats, including excessive water withdrawals for irrigation, non-native trout and ongoing habitat degradation...more