Wildlife & Natural Resources

Meyers Nave advises the County of San Bernardino in advocacy before the California Fish and Game Commission against listing the western Joshua tree as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act. The work has included negotiating with other stakeholders and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, appearing before the Commission, and counseling the County on implementation of the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act and the negotiations shaping how that compromise works on the ground.

Meyers Nave represented the Acjachemen Tongva Land Conservancy in the first Indigenous land return in Orange County history, a six-acre parcel on Bolsa Chica Mesa that was home to a Tongva and Acjachemen village roughly nine thousand years ago, now held by the Conservancy for native species reintroduction, cultural ceremonies, and public education.

Meyers Nave represented the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy in one of the first private land returns to Native Americans in the Los Angeles area, the first time in the nearly 200 years since the California mission system ended that land has been returned to the Tongva people.

Meyers Nave is lead counsel to BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on the Barstow International Gateway (BIG) project, one of the most significant private freight infrastructure investments in California history.

Successfully defended Los Angeles County on a complex coastal issue in the Santa Monica Mountains. The landowners built numerous structures without coastal development permits (cdp). Challenge to the proper permit-enforcement agency, and the need to complete and certify a Local Coastal Program, or LCP. Published decision: Hagopian v. County of Los Angeles, (2014) 214 Cal.App.4th 349 [coastal land use].

More than a decade of counsel on ESA consultation and compliance across LADWP’s infrastructure, coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Section 404 permitting, the water boards on Section 401 certification, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service on consultation.

Counsel on the multi-billion-dollar dust control program spanning thousands of acres of BLM-administered land, including federal resource agency coordination and preparation and defense of CEQA and NEPA documents.

We are advising the district on Endangered Species Act and water quality issues related to several projects for the operation and maintenance of dams and other flood control facilities, including negotiating California Department of Fish and Wildlife on various habitat mitigation and Section 1600 matters.

We provided legal advice to the County regarding a seismic retrofit project on a bridge over the San Gabriel River. Even though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declined to assert jurisdiction under Clean Water Act section 404, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region, persisted in asserting jurisdiction under Clean Water Act section 401 and demanded 1.2 acres of habitat mitigation. We assisted the client in developing a successful strategy that convinced the Regional Board to agree no mitigation was required.

In Center for Biological Diversity v. California Department of Fish and Game, a Meyers Nave was on the legal team that defeated a CEQA challenge to DFG’s consistency determination under CESA section 2080.1 for the marbled murrelet, a bird listed under the state and federal law. The Court determined that the agency’s decision was not a “discretionary” project triggering the environmental review requirements of CEQA.

Meyers Nave represented the San Bernardino County Flood Control District and the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District in Endangered Species Act litigation over operations at Seven Oaks Dam, one of the largest embankment dams in the United States, in the foothills near Redlands. In 2016 environmental groups sued the dam’s builder, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, alleging that operations neglected habitat for the Santa Ana sucker and the San Bernardino kangaroo rat. The case was resolved by settlement.

We are advising the district on Endangered Species Act, water quality and Surface Mining and Reclamation Act issues related to several projects for the operation and maintenance of dams, groundwater recharge basins and other facilities, including negotiating with the Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

We represent Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District and the Southwest Resource Management Association in negotiating conservation easements and counseling on management issues and related real property matters with public and private entities seeking to satisfy mitigation obligations for development projects.

CEQA advice and review for the draft EIR restoring the county’s largest reservoir to its 89,000 acre-foot design capacity, including conservation measures and flow releases to Coyote Creek benefiting South-Central Coast steelhead, a federally endangered species.

Counsel on the EIR for the enhancement of one of Southern California’s last remaining coastal freshwater lagoons.

Defended a timber company in challenge to historic Headwaters Agreement, based on claims under CEQA, California Endangered Species Act and the Fish and Game Code’s streambed alteration provisions, as well as challenges to Sustained Yield Plan, Habitat Conservation Plan and other approvals for timber harvesting. Related published decisions include Prot. Info. Ctr. v. Cal. Dep’t of Forestry & Fire Prot. (2008) 44 Cal.4th 459; People ex rel. Gallegos v. Pac. Lumber Co. (2008) 158 Cal.App.4th 950; Envtl. Prot. Info. Ctr. v. Pac. Lumber Co. (N.D. Cal. 2007) 469 F. Supp. 2d 803.

City of Suisun City v. Suisun Shores Development, jury trial May 1997. Meyers Nave was lead counsel for the City in an eminent domain case to acquire approximately 11 acres of unimproved property for the Highway 12 Improvement and Wetlands Mitigation Project. The City’s appraiser estimated total compensation at approximately $1,290,000. The owner’s appraiser estimated total compensation at over $3,320,000. The jury verdict was $1,300,000.

Center for Natural Lands Management. Meyers Nave represents CNLM in its efforts to ensure protection of the critically endangered pacific pocket mouse though an extremely contentious litigation with the City of Dana Point involving issues under the Endangered Species, Coastal Act, conservation easements and public access and rights. The firm also represents CNLM in its application for Coastal Development Permit for the continued management of the Preserve, which includes coordination with the California Coastal Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Advise a California non-profit public benefit corporation on conservation easements, management issues and related real property matters. Recently advised on the purchase/donation of 140 acres to be used for habitat conservation/permanent open space.

Yamagiwa v. City of Half Moon Bay – Bench Trial November 2007. Meyers Nave was lead trial counsel for defendant City of Half Moon Bay in Federal Court (United Stated District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco)). The City had previously denied a commercial development application on grounds that ‘wetlands’ were present on the property. The developer therefore sued the City, arguing that the City’s faulty stormwater system caused the wetlands condition. The Court agreed with the developer.

Munari v. City of El Paso De Robles, et al. Defended the Department of Fish and Wildlife as lead counsel on CEQA issues in a developer’s action challenging the City of El Paso De Robles’ denial of a development application and mitigation requirements imposed by the department relating to endangered species. Successfully resolved by summary judgment, which the court of appeal affirmed.

Meyers Nave assisted SANDAG in developing an MOU for the San Dieguito Restoration Project to create 150 acres of coastal wetlands. The MOU was developed to address the scope of the impacts of the W-19 project on Southern California Edison mitigation efforts, and to ensure joint maintenance of the wetlands.

Federal court action involving a myriad of civil rights and takings challenges from a suspension of a plot plan in the Santa Monica Mountains. Case also includes 12 individually named defendants and assertions of improper delay resulting in a temporary taking.

Defense of writ challenge to County’s ridgeline ordinance and asserted general plan deficiencies. Writ denied in full in both matters preserving the County’s newly enacted environmental preservation ordinance. Court of Appeal affirmed in full in both cases.

Represent the newly incorporated City in a dispute as to the County’s failure to transfer over 400 acres of the Chiquita Ridge as required under the LAFCO terms of incorporation.

Successfully defended Glendale in challenge to hillside ordinance and tentative tract map approval which set aside a portion of the parcel as open space.

Successfully defended a timber company in Clean Water Act lawsuit based on allegations of sediment discharge during timber harvesting.