FRESNO, Calif. – One of California’s rarest and most elusive mammals, the Sierra Nevada red fox, is expected to garner new federal protections following a court ruling.
A federal judge found the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) violated the Endangered Species Act when it refused to designate critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada red fox, which was listed as endangered in 2021.
In his Sept. 16 decision, Judge Dale Drozd of the Eastern District of California determined the agency committed three separate legal errors in deciding that critical habitat for the fox was “not prudent.”
“This is a huge victory for one of California’s rarest and most beautiful animals,” said Brian Segee, legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s endangered species program, in a press release celebrating the decision. “Sierra Nevada red foxes desperately need safe places to survive and recover, and federal officials can’t simply sidestep their duty to consider protecting these places.”
Fewer than 50 red foxes are thought to exist in the Sierra Nevada, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). The species inhabits rugged, barren terrain at high elevations and is said to be wary of humans.
In 2011, the Center for Biologicical Diversity petitioned the USFWS to protect the foxes under the Endangered Species Act and designate critical habitat in an area along Sonora Pass.
Ten years later, the agency listed the species as endangered but declined to designate any critical habitat.
The environmental group challenged that decision in December 2024, saying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to protect critical habitat ignored threats to red fox habitat and failed to consider its long-term recovery. Judge Drozd agreed.
His ruling emphasized that the Endangered Species Act is intended not merely to keep endangered animals alive, but to restore them to healthy populations.
“Critical habitat is one of the Endangered Species Act’s most important safeguards because animals and plants can’t recover if the places they depend on disappear,” Segee said.
The judge’s order directs the Fish and Wildlife Service to draft a new critical habitat determination for the fox, but the parties will meet first to discuss how to proceed.
Until a trail camera detected a red fox near Sonora Pass in 2010, red foxes were thought to have disappeared from the Sierra Nevada. Unregulated hunting and trapping in the early 20th century are believed to have contributed to their decline.
In February, California Fish and Wildlife biologists captured a red fox near Mammoth Lakes and fitted the animal with a GPS collar to track its movements. Both the capture and collar were said to be the first in state history.
