Practice Contacts
MGKF attorneys have counseled numerous clients through the maze of laws, regulations and policies that protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. At the federal level, the Endangered Species Act protects listed threatened and endangered species and their habitats from a "taking," which includes killing, harassing, and harming. States have enacted analogous laws that typically protect a greater number of state-listed species. Potential impacts to threatened and endangered species are becoming increasingly commonplace as real estate development infringes on their habitats and information regarding these habitats becomes more defined and accessible.
Working with outside consultants who specialize in threatened and endangered species, the firm has counseled developers and other clients on regulatory requirements involving a number of threatened and endangered species. These have included, for example, the bald eagle (formerly a federally threatened species, now separately protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act as well as state laws), bog turtle (federally threatened), Indiana bat (federally threatened), red-bellied turtle (Pennsylvania threatened), and swamp pink (New Jersey threatened plant). In handling these matters, we have successfully prepared agreements and permit conditions with the applicable resource agencies that have allowed our clients' projects to proceed while doing so in a manner protective of the species and their habitat. We maintain constructive relationships with the resource agencies, keep abreast of changes to their policies, and have jointly presented with agency staff at seminars.
©2006 Photo by Cie Stroud
Representative endangered species matters in which the firm has been involved include the following:
- MGKF attorneys counseled a regional homebuilder through the regulatory process to allow construction of a residential subdivision on property near the nesting tree of a pair of bald eagles. Working with the client's ornithologist and civil engineers, we negotiated approval of a site plan that provided appropriate forested buffers and open space to mitigate adverse impacts to the bald eagles while preserving the lots on the plan. Approval of the site plan was subject to intense scrutiny by a neighborhood group that opposed the project.
- The firm coordinated clearances regarding the potential for bog turtles to be located at the site of a large residential development in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
- Working with the client's consultant, we successfully argued to the resource agencies that the "discovery" of a turtle found dead on a road near our client's project site was insufficient identification to support a finding that bog turtles inhabited the site.
- MGKF drafted proposed conditions to permits that were thereafter issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection providing protection to potential bog turtle habitat and allowing a project to move forward without major redesign.
Press Releases
- April 20, 2017
- March 31, 2017
- March 1, 2016With Speaking Engagements by Partners Joseph M. Manko, Bart E. Cassidy, Jonathan E. Rinde and Carol F. McCabe
- December 11, 2014
- November 11, 2014
- November 6, 2014
- December 2, 2013A joint effort of the National Audobon Society and the Philadelphia Outward Bound School
- April 25, 2010
Seminars & Speaking Engagements
Special Alerts
- January 12, 2021
- January 11, 2021
- August 13, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 21, 2020
- January 15, 2019
- January 14, 2019
- January 18, 2018
- January 23, 2017
- January 23, 2017
- January 25, 2016
- January 25, 2016
- January 8, 2010
- November 16, 2008
- January 16, 2008
- August 16, 2007
Articles
- November 14, 2019The Legal Intelligencer
- June 4, 2019MGKF Litigation Blog
- December 10, 2018MGKF Litigation Blog
- November 21, 2018New Jersey Law Journal
- July 27, 2017The Legal Intelligencer - Environmental & Energy Supplement
- November 11, 2014Co-authored by Jonathan E. Rinde and Michael Dillon
- December 14, 2007NJPA Real Estate Journal