The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday accusing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior of violating the Endangered Species Act by missing a mandatory deadline to determine whether the Olympic marmot should be protected under federal law.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that the Service failed to issue a required “90-day finding” on the group’s petition to list the Olympic marmot as threatened or endangered.
The petition was submitted in May 2024, but the agency has yet to publish its initial finding, which was due by May 13, 2025.
According to the complaint, the delay violates Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act, which sets strict deadlines for the government to evaluate species in danger of extinction.
The Center is asking the court to order the Service to issue the overdue finding by a specific date and to cover the group’s legal costs.
The suit names U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum as defendants.
The Center contends that the delay “increases the risk of extinction” for the Olympic marmot, a ground-dwelling species found only in the Olympic Mountains of Washington state.
The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) lives exclusively on the Olympic Peninsula, primarily in the alpine meadows of Olympic National Park.
The animals hibernate for about eight months each year and emerge in summer to eat, forage, and cool off by lying on rocks.
Scientists say their populations have dropped significantly over the past 30 years, with some colonies disappearing entirely.
According to the lawsuit, climate change has been cited as a major threat to the species.
Rising temperatures have caused treelines to move higher, shrinking the marmots’ habitat.
Coyotes, which moved into higher elevations as snowpack melted earlier in the year, now prey more heavily on marmots — particularly females that forage longer in the morning and evening.
The complaint also points to increasingly frequent wildfires and habitat fragmentation as additional dangers.
The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit with thousands of members in Washington, said it filed the petition to protect the species under the ESA after years of population monitoring by park volunteers and biologists showed steep declines.
The organization argues that federal protection could fund habitat restoration and prevent further losses through measures such as predator management and climate adaptation work.
The Center first notified the federal agencies of their intent to sue in May 2025, after the statutory deadline passed.
If the court rules in favor of the Center, the Fish and Wildlife Service could be required to release its initial decision on whether listing the Olympic marmot as threatened or endangered is warranted, potentially beginning the process of granting full federal protection.
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