California ordered to consider protection for American pika

A judge in San Francisco on Tuesday ordered the state to reconsider — for the third time — whether to extend endangered species protection to the tiny American pika, a mountain-dwelling mammal whose population may be declining because of climate change.

Superior Court Judge Peter Busch ordered the California Fish and Game Commission to review scientific data and determine whether the pika qualifies for listing under the state endangered species law. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to list the species earlier this year.

The pika is the first animal in the lower 48 states to be considered for endangered listing solely because of climate change.

Jon K. Fischer, the commission’s acting executive director, said the agency was still considering the legal implications of the ruling.

“Pikas have been surveyed in other parts of the nation and the world,” Fischer said. “They haven’t, unfortunately, been surveyed in California. That’s one of the problems in California: How do we survey for all of these species when we have this budget problem for the last year and a half?”

Greg Loarie, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice, which sued the state, said the judge did not order new studies but told the commission to consider existing analyses.

“The lion’s share of this material they have had in front of them for three years,” Loarie said.

The animal’s range is restricted to alpine areas such as the Eastern Sierra Nevada and high-altitude peaks such as Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta.

julie.cart@latimes.com