FORT MYERS, Fla.— Four conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, filed a request in federal court today to defend critical Endangered Species Act protections for the imperiled Florida scrub jay.

The groups are requesting to intervene in a 2024 lawsuit filed by a national private property group, Pacific Legal Foundation, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The lawsuit is seeking to remove Endangered Species Act protections from the Florida scrub jay and to scrap Charlotte County’s decade-old Florida scrub jay habitat conservation plan.

Earthjustice is representing the Florida Wildlife Federation, the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida in the case.

Scrub jays are popular with birdwatchers across the globe because of their blue plumage and inquisitive nature. These imperiled birds only live in Florida. Scrub jays live in family groups consisting of a breeding pair and young helpers that raise new chicks.

Because scrub jays feed, breed and nest on the same high and dry lands that agricultural operations and developers prize, they are under increasing threat as Florida’s population grows. Florida scrub jays were listed as a federally threatened species in 1987 because their population had dropped by an estimated 90% since the 1800s.

Charlotte County developed its scrub jay habitat conservation plan in 2014 to comply with the federal Endangered Species Act. The county’s habitat conservation plan doesn’t prevent people from building in scrub jay habitat, but it does require that people who choose to build there pay a fee. This money goes to buy protected lands for the rare birds.

One Charlotte County landowner, Michael Colosi, is refusing to pay the fee. Instead, after he bought five acres in scrub jay habitat, he sued Charlotte County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with Pacific Legal Foundation representing him.

The suit claims that the Endangered Species Act can’t be used to protect any species that exist solely in a single state because it is beyond Congress’s power under the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.

“The majority of imperiled species in the United States exist in only a single state,” said Aaron Bloom, Earthjustice senior attorney. “If, as this lawsuit claims, those species can’t be protected under the Endangered Species Act, then many will be lost forever.”

“Florida’s diverse ecosystem is home to many plants and animals found nowhere else in the world,” said Sarah Gledhill, CEO and president of the Florida Wildlife Federation. “Targeting Charlotte County’s proactive effort to protect the Florida scrub jay’s habitat from uncontrolled growth is a threat to all of Florida’s unique species from the Key deer, only found in the Florida Keys, to the Florida torreya, a critically endangered tree found in the Apalachicola region. We stand with Charlotte County and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their long-term commitment to protect this cherished species.”

“People visit Florida from all over just to catch a glimpse of our gregarious, brilliant blue scrub jays,” said Elise Bennett, Florida director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The Endangered Species Act saved these vibrant birds from extinction. Undermining those protections now would have devastating consequences for our few remaining Florida scrub jay families and all the people who love them.”

“This species, found nowhere else on Earth, is in real trouble but it isn’t too late to save it,” said Michael J. Parr, president of American Bird Conservancy. “Florida was the state where the most recent mainland bird extinction in the United States happened back in 1987 when we lost the dusky seaside sparrow. Let’s not allow another iconic Florida species to go the same way.”

“If people choose to build in the scrub jay’s home, they need to follow the protections that the community has agreed upon,” said Becky Ayech of the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida. “These are very special, very rare birds, and federal law says you can’t just trash their home because you feel like it.”