Lawsuit seeks removal of Central Valley beetle from endangered list

The dime-size beetle, unique to the Central Valley, has been the bane of developers and flood-control officials since it was first listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1980.

The beetle relies on a single host plant, the relatively hardy valley elderberry. As a result, many construction projects – including major levee rebuilding projects – have been required to take extraordinary steps such as relocating hundreds of the shrubs or planting new ones.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service already has a delisting effort under way for the beetle.

In 2006, it concluded in a status review that the species should be removed from the endangered species list, largely due to the success of habitat conservation efforts like those that have frustrated property owners.

But five years later, the delisting process still has not been completed.

"This lawsuit is intended to compel a response from the Fish and Wildlife Service," said Brandon Middleton, a staff attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, the Sacramento-based nonprofit law firm handling the lawsuit. "This is unfortunately a last resort, because they failed to act upon their obligation to remove this healthy species from the endangered species list."

The foundation represents the Sacramento Valley Landowners Association; the North Sacramento Land Company; farm bureau organizations in Butte, Solano and Yolo counties; and levee maintenance districts in Yuba and Sutter counties.

The beetle is important as an indicator for the health of riparian -- or river-adjacent -- habitat. More than 90 percent of that habitat has been lost since the mid-1800s. As the beetle's fortunes go, in short, so goes much of the valley's habitat.

In its 2006 decision, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the beetle now exists at 160 locations in the region, compared to just 10 in 1980.

Also during that time, 50,000 acres of floodplain habitat have been protected to benefit the beetle.

Sarah Swenty, a spokeswoman for the Fish and Wildlife Service, declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

But Swenty said the agency has prepared a draft delisting proposal for the beetle that is now undergoing a routine review by officials at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"We're moving on this as best we can with the priorities we have," Swenty said.

Before filing the lawsuit, Middleton's group formally petitioned the agency in September to delist the beetle. Such petitions normally require a response within 90 days stating whether or not delisting is warranted.

Swenty said the agency acknowledged the petition in a follow-up letter, but did not issue a formal response on the "warranted" question because the delisting process is already under way.

Not everyone agrees that the beetle's threatened status should be changed. Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, believes the beetle is still in peril. Among other things, he said, it's not yet clear how many beetles make up the additional populations cited by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

"They were claiming beetles near each other were different populations, which we think is dubious," Miller said. "We don't know if they're viable long-term populations or not."