CALIFORNIA — The Center for Biological Diversity, represented by Earthjustice, reports it recently sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to finalize Endangered Species Act protections for California spotted owls. “The survival of the California spotted owl hangs by a thread and they desperately need protections,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species co-director at the Center for Biological Diversity. …In February 2023 the agency proposed protecting spotted owls in southern California as endangered and those in the Sierra Nevada — including in Plumas County — as threatened, starting the clock on a one-year deadline to finalize protections. Those decisions are now more than two years overdue. The center and partners first petitioned to protect the owls 25 years ago. …“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s long delay in granting the owl protections under the Endangered Species Act continues to hinder the California spotted owl’s fight for survival.”