December 7, 1999 – In response to a Center lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 19,474 acres of critical habitat for the western snowy plover. A building-industry lawsuit to remove the species from the endangered species list was unsuccessful.

2005 – The Center intervened in a building-industry suit to reduce the snowy plover’s critical habitat, and a revised designation of just more than 12,000 acres was finalized. The new designation eliminated protection for thousands of acres scientists believed necessary for the snowy plover’s survival; it included no protections at all for the San Francisco Bay area, which has one of the largest populations of snowy plovers anywhere.

August 13, 2007 – The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a dubious recovery plan for the snowy plover, calling for a goal of restoring an overall population of 3,000 breeding adults — not many more than currently exist — to be maintained for 10 years. The recovery plan and low population target will likely cause a decline in the total plover population in the short term and is very unlikely to ever actually recover the species.

August 28, 2007 – The Center submitted a notice of intent to sue the Bush administration over 55 illegal Endangered Species Act decisions, including the 2005 decision to slash the snowy plover’s critical habitat.