Thursday June 11, 2026
The Plumas Sun —
The Center for Biological Diversity announced it sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service June 9 for failing to decide whether western ridged mussels should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The center notified the service of its intent to sue in March.
“Western ridged mussels are sliding toward extinction and it’s clear they won’t get any help from the Trump administration without this lawsuit,” said Meg Townsend, a freshwater attorney at the center. “It’s hard to tell whether this administration hates the natural world or science more, but we won’t let these little, yet important, mussels become its latest victim. Every year that endangered species protections are delayed puts more populations at risk and makes recovery harder.”
The agency missed a legally required deadline to determine whether safeguards are warranted for the freshwater mussels, which are disappearing from rivers across Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Nevada. Many historical sites no longer support mussels, and many local populations no longer successfully reproduce. In California, one of the 17 locations of live mussel observations since 1990 is Last Chance Creek in the East Branch North Fork Feather River watershed, according to a report from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.