A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday the Fish and Wildlife Service’s general conservation plan for Utah prairie dogs did not sufficiently mitigate the effects of development on the species.
The ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a district court’s decision that upheld the Trump administration plan in 2024. It is an important win for Utah prairie dogs, said Jennifer Best, wildlife law program director at Friends of Animals, the conservation nonprofit and plaintiff in the case.
“It means that an agency can’t just authorize the destruction of habitat, and think about the consequences later. In fact, the agency has an obligation to consider the quality of the habitat that it is permitting to be destroyed, and also consider what is being done to prevent and mitigate that harm,” Best said.
Utah prairie dogs are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. FWS streamlined the permitting process for land development by allowing the “take” of prairie dogs in certain Utah counties if developers “minimize and mitigate the impact of the taking to the maximum extent practicable.”
