WASHINGTON— In a major victory for one of America’s most imperiled marsh birds, a federal court today sided with the Center for Biological Diversity and Healthy Gulf by striking down the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to designate critical habitat for the eastern black rail in Louisiana, Texas and other Gulf Coast states.

“Habitat loss is driving the eastern black rail to the brink of extinction and this decision recognizes that the Fish and Wildlife Service can’t ignore that reality,” said Kristine Akland, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Protecting wetlands is essential if this secretive little bird is going to have a fighting chance to survive rising seas and relentless development.”

The court’s opinion emphasized that habitat loss — not birdwatchers — is the primary threat to the rails’ survival, and that the Service failed to weigh the obvious benefits of protecting the wetlands that the birds depend on.

Listed as threatened in 2020 after a decade-long fight by the Center, the eastern black rail has lost more than 90% of its historical range because of the destruction and degradation of wetlands. Rising sea levels and climate-driven storms continue to shrink what little habitat remains.

“Healthy Gulf has been pulling for the eastern black rail to receive a critical habitat designation and we welcome this opinion,” said Andrew Whitehurst, water program director of Healthy Gulf. “So many factors are at work against this small, secretive marsh bird's habitat: rising sea levels, land subsidence, an eroding Louisiana coast, continued development of oil and gas infrastructure in the coastal zone all across the Gulf and storms — all of which are transforming marshes to open water. Protecting black rail habitat will protect coastal marshes and serve the natural and human communities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts."

The court ordered the Service to go back to the drawing board and make a new decision that complies with the Endangered Species Act’s requirement to protect habitat to the maximum extent possible.

The Center and Healthy Gulf are also fighting destructive industrial projects, including proposed liquified natural gas terminals, that threaten to wipe out key rail habitat along the Gulf Coast.

Background:
The eastern black rail is a tiny, elusive marsh bird that lives in dense wetlands along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and parts of the Great Plains. It’s so secretive that it’s often heard rather than seen. Without healthy, protected wetlands the rail could vanish completely by 2068.