Action Timeline

December 16, 2004 – A Center-led coalition of conservation groups, Native Americans, and hunters petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to require nonlead ammunition for big-game hunting in California condor habitat.

July 11, 2006 – A Center-led coalition of conservation and health organizations announced its intent to sue the California Fish and Game Commission for continuing to allow the use of toxic lead ammunition poisoning California condors.

November 30, 2006 – The Center and allies filed suit against the California Fish and Game Commission and Department of Fish and Game for allowing lead ammunition to continue to poison California condors.

February 23, 2007 – After pressure from the Center and other groups, the Tejon Ranch Corporation announced that nonlead ammunition would be required for all hunting and predator control on the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch.

July 31, 2007 – The Center and allies requested that the Arizona Game and Fish Commission require the use of nonlead ammunition to prevent further lead poisonings of Arizona’s condors.

September 4, 2007 – In large part due to the Center’s 2006 lawsuit and advocacy, the California Senate approved the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act — an historic measure requiring hunters to use nonlead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes within the California condor’s range in central and Southern California.  The law became effective July 1, 2008.

December 7, 2007 – The California Fish and Game Commission approved additional hunting regulations for 2008 that expanded the requirements for hunters to use nonlead bullets in the condor range. The new regulations required nonlead ammunition for hunting nongame birds and mammals within the condor range.

June 4, 2008 – Tejon Ranch sought federal permits under the Endangered Species Act for permission to “take,” (harm, harass or kill) the California condor and other rare wildlife. The application coincided with reports of a spike in lead poisonings of Southern California condors, suspected to be caused by ingestion of lead ammunition used by hunters on Tejon Ranch. Tejon Ranch had evidently not enforced its own rule to disallow lead ammo on the 270,000-acre property.

December 3, 2008 – The Center reached a settlement with the California Fish and Game Commission and Department of Fish and Game that extended the protections of the Ridley-Tree Condor Conservation Act by eliminating lead ammunition for depredation hunting, the shooting of animals deemed a nuisance or threat.

March 25, 2009 – The Center filed suit against the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service for their failure to protect California condors from toxic lead ammunition in crafting management plans for public lands near the Grand Canyon known as the Arizona Strip.

April 6-10, 2009 – After two condors from the Big Sur and California’s central coast were found shot full of lead bullets in March, the Center established a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter or shooters. The Center hired a private investigator to assist in efforts to apprehend the person or persons responsible for the condor shootings and increased the reward fund for information leading to the shooter’s capture to $40,500.

August 3, 2010 – The Center and a coalition of conservation, hunting and veterinary groups filed a formal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency requesting a ban on the use of toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle.

August 27, 2010 – The EPA to denied the portion of our petition seeking to ban toxic lead bullets and shot, claiming it didn’t have the authority to regulate lead ammunition.

September 2010 – The Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the EPA asking for all documents related to the agency’s partial denial of our petition.

September 27, 2010 – Sixty-eight conservation groups representing birders, hunters, scientists, American Indians and public employees wrote a letter to the EPA endorsing our petition to ban toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle.

November 4, 2010 – Ignoring long-established science on the dangers of lead poisoning in the wild, the EPA denied the portion of our petition requesting a ban on lead fishing tackle and sinkers.

November 23, 2010 – The Center, along with a coalition of conservation and hunting groups, sued the EPA for failing to regulate toxic lead in hunting ammunition and fishing tackle in response to our petition.

April 8, 2011 – Three new scientific studies by University of California researchers confirm that lead poisoning of endangered California condors and other wildlife is due to scavenging animals ingesting fragments of spent lead hunting ammunition.

July 2011 – The Fish and Wildlife Service announced its intent to begin cleaning up toxic, lead-based paint at federal facilities on Midway Atoll that was killing up to 10,000 Laysan albatross chicks each year and also threatening the endangered Laysan duck. The announcement came after the Center issued a notice of intent to sue the Service and affiliated agencies in 2010 for their failure to remediate the hazardous waste hurting the birds.