A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrongly dismissed Endangered Species Act protections for Joshua Trees/NPS file

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials erred by not adequately considering climate-change impacts when they denied Endangered Species Act protections for Joshua trees, a federal judge has ruled.

"The Service’s conclusion that the Joshua tree will be able to migrate to climate refugia and survive beyond its contracting habitat appears inadequately supported and counter to the data on which it relies," U.S. District Judge Ottis D. Wright II wrote in arriving at his ruling (attached below) earlier this week.

"The Service’s findings regarding threats posed by climate change and wildfire are unsupported, speculative, or irrational; and the Service’s conclusion that Joshua trees are not threatened in a significant portion of their range is arbitrary and capricious," the judge determined in granting summary judgment in the case to Wildearth Guardians, which sued the Fish and Wildlife Service over the matter back in 2019.

“The court’s decision represents a monumental step forward for the Joshua tree, but also for all climate-imperiled species whose fate relies upon the Service following the law and evaluating the best scientific data available with respect to forecasting future climate change impacts,” said Jennifer Schwartz, staff attorney for WildEarth Guardians and lead attorney on the case. “The court’s unequivocal holding—that the Service cannot summarily dismiss scientific evidence that runs counter to its conclusions—will force the federal government to confront the reality of climate change and begin focusing on how to help species adapt.”

Back in 2019 WildEarth Guardians challenged the Service’s decision that Joshua trees do not warrant federal protection, "despite all the available scientific evidence pointing to the same conclusion: Joshua trees will be in danger of extinction throughout most of their current range by century’s end from climate change driven habitat loss, invasive grass fueled wildfire, and other stressors," the organization said in a release.

WildEarth Guardians first filed a petition to list the Joshua tree as “threatened” under the ESA in 2015 and the Service found the listing “not warranted” in August 2019. Under the Trump administration, the Service ignored every available peer-reviewed study to model future climate impacts to Joshua tree—all of which agree that the vast majority (roughly 90 percent) of the species’ current range will be rendered unsuitable by the end of the 21st century, the organization's release said.

Wildearth Guardians pointed out that "while the decision was issued by the Service under the Trump administration, the Service refused to budge from its indefensible position—or even consider taking a fresh look at the finding—even under the Biden administration."

In addition to the litigation, Guardians filed emergency petitions to protect two species of Joshua tree in May 2021, following the release of even more conclusive climate change findings and the large Cima Dome fire that swept through the Mojave National Preserve and killed an estimated 1.3 million Joshua trees. So far the Service has failed to respond to the renewed petitions, the group said.

“While we are grateful to the court for this positive decision, we are very disappointed that the Biden administration failed at several junctures to do what’s right by these iconic Joshua trees,” said Lindsay Larris, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “The time and money the federal government spent defending a decision that the court could clearly see was wrong—instead of using these funds to conserve species and determine how to mitigate massive biodiversity loss from climate change—is tragic and, unfortunately, telling. We need this administration to take swift action to protect species and habitat, not just deliver nice messages about the importance of fighting climate change while defending the damaging actions of the prior administration.”

This week's court order directs the Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its decision, taking into account the best available science, including climate change models, in reaching a new decision for the Joshua tree. Pursuant to the ESA, this decision is required to be issued within the next 12 months, though the Service will now have 60 days to decide whether or not to appeal the decision.