WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief for a ''nonessential and experimental'' population of Northern Aplomado Falcons

This complaint opposes a reintroduction rule which removes most habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act for Aplomado Falcons in New Mexico and Arizona - all falcons within the two-state area were designated ''experimental, non-essential''
Contact: Jay Tutchton Robin Cooley and Richard Mietz, Counsel for Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs: WildEarth Guardians, Chihuahuan Desert Conservation Alliance, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, New Mexico Audubon Council, Sierra Club, Southwest Environmental Center

This complaint, filed in federal district court in Santa Fe on September 11, 2006, opposes a reintroduction rule which removes most habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act for Aplomado Falcons in New Mexico and Arizona. Under a rule issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in late July, all falcons within the two-state area were designated “experimental, non-essential” under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act. The rule’s removal of habitat protections for falcons comes at a time when there is more evidence that wild falcons exist in New Mexico than at any point since the Northern Aplomado Falcon was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1986.

The Endangered Species Act requires that reintroduced animals designated asexperimental, non-essential be outside the current range of the species. The groups’ lawsuit contends that the falcon reintroduction rule is illegal due to the presence of wild falcons in New Mexico. Over the past two years, scientific articles published in North American Birds and the Journal of Raptor Research have indicated that a wild falcon population spans northern Chihuahua and southern New Mexico. For the first time in fifty years, wild falcons successfully fledged young in New Mexico, in the summer of 2002. The Luna County territory has been occupied from 2000 to the present, possibly by the same female falcon that successfully bred in 2002. Altogether, there have been 26 credible falcon sightings in New Mexico over the past eighteen months, more than any eighteen-month period since the falcon was federally listed. These sightings have included pairs, adult, and young falcons and have occurred across several counties in New Mexico, especially Luna and Otero Counties.

While conservation groups do not oppose the reintroduction effort, they oppose its design and urge full ESA protections for falcons, including those reintroduced into the state. 11 captive-bred falcons were released into New Mexico in early August. The groups aim through their lawsuit to reinstate enforceable habitat protections to protect both wild falcons and help ensure that reintroduced birds become established in the wild.

View the complaint [pdf]