The Fish and Wildlife Service’s abruptly diminished workforce has now been given more time to evaluate the Arctic grayling, a much-litigated fish whose handling could illuminate the Trump administration’s approach toward the Endangered Species Act.
A trial judge last August gave the federal agency 12 months to complete a long-delayed ESA listing decision for the fish’s Upper Missouri River population. Earlier this month, the Fish and Wildlife Service dropped its appeal of that order, effectively assenting to the August 2025 deadline.
On Friday, at the request of the Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen agreed to extend the listing decision deadline until February of 2027. The agency sought the extra time so it could conduct a full-bore species status assessment.
“The Court agrees an SSA would strengthen FWS’s revised finding on the Arctic Grayling,” Christensen wrote.
