California Landowners Settle Suit Over Fox Habitat Disturbance

Landowners in Bakersfield, Calif., settled a citizen suit brought under the Endangered Species Act that alleged their activities destroyed endangered San Joaquin kit fox habitats.

Plaintiff Shawn Smallwood notified the US District Court for the Eastern District of California Thursday of an agreement he reached with SASD Development Group LLC.

• Smallwood alleged the company knew there were kit foxes on their two parcels of land, but continued to till the soil and disrupt their dens and behavioral patterns
• Destroying an endangered species’ habitat is illegal under the current regulatory definition of harassment and “taking,” but the Trump administration has proposed ...