Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. Servheen
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
665 F.3d 1015 (2011)
After the Fish and Wildlife Service (defendant) determined its grizzly bear recovery criteria had been met and issued a delisting rule, it concluded that climate-driven loss of whitebark pine (a key grizzly food source in Yellowstone) would not threaten the population, based on the bears' likely behavioral food-acquisition adaptations, another grizzly population's adaptation to pine loss elsewhere, and an adaptive-management monitoring approach; the district court sided with the challenging coalition (plaintiff), finding the agency relied excessively on non-binding measures.
Whether a delisting of a recovered species under the Endangered Species Act will be upheld if the decision is rationally supported by evidence in the administrative record.