Action timeline

October 6, 2004 – The Center for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the desert nesting bald eagle as an endangered “distinct population segment.”

August 30, 2006 – The Service denied the Center’s 2004 petition, reversing its own, long-held policy to recognize the desert nesting bald eagle as a separate population.

January 5, 2007 – The Center and partner filed a legal complaint to require the Service to perform a full status review for the desert nesting bald eagle. It requested that the court issue an injunction preventing the Service from removing Endangered Species Act protection for desert nesting bald eagles.

March 5, 2008 – A federal judge reversed the Service’s denial of our 2004 petition, ruling that the agency’s 2006 negative finding had violated the Endangered Species Act and had been arrived at arbitrarily and capriciously.

May 1, 2008 – Protection for the desert nesting bald eagle was officially reinstated, with the Fish and Wildlife Service ordered to complete a review of its denial of our 2004 petition within nine months, by December.

August 28, 2008 – The Center and its American Indian allies filed a court request to extend the deadline for this re-evaluation to allow for better establishment of the eagle’s historical presence in support of listing. The request was granted.