Action timeline

July 30, 2004 – The Center called for an investigation by California’s attorney general into the role of the Tejon Ranch Company in the fatal 2003 shooting of “AC-8,” one of the last original wild condors.

December 16, 2004 – A coalition of conservation groups, Native Americans, and hunters, led by the Center, petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to require non-lead ammunition hunting for large game in the range of the California condor.

September 16, 2005 – The Center, Los Padres ForestWatch, and Defenders of Wildlife filed an administrative appeal challenging a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to expand oil drilling in California’s Los Padres National Forest, prime California condor habitat and home to the Sespe Condor Sanctuary.

November 4, 2005 – The Center and the Sierra Club filed comments opposing the proposed Tejon Mountain Village development, a project that would seriously threaten the California condor by destroying wildlands essential to its survival and recovery.

June 13, 2006 – The Center and allies filed a notice of intent to sue the Bush administration over its plans to expand oil and gas drilling in the condor’s Los Padres National Forest home.

July 26, 2006 – The Center and a long list of other groups — representing almost 2 million citizens — called on California and federal officials to protect Tejon Ranch, which contains condor critical habitat, as a national or state park.

November 30, 2006 – The Center and a coalition of conservation and health organizations filed suit against the California Fish and Game Commission and Department of Fish and Game for continuing to allow the use of toxic lead ammunition in the California condor’s range.

February 23, 2007 – After heavy pressure from the Center and others, the Tejon Ranch Company announced that non-lead ammunition would be required for all hunting and predator control on the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch to protect the California condor.

April 23, 2007 – On the heels of a major oil spill in the Los Padres National Forest, the Center, Defenders of Wildlife, and Los Padres ForestWatch filed suit over the Bush administration’s plans to expand oil and gas drilling in Los Padres.

May 18, 2007 – More than 40 eminent natural-resource scientists signed a Declaration on the Conservation Significance of Tejon Ranch, supporting conserving 250,000 acres of Tejon for numerous reasons, including preserving its essential role as habitat for the California condor.

September 4, 2007 – The California Senate approved the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, an historic measure requiring hunters to use non-lead ammunition for hunting big game and coyotes within the California condor’s range in central and Southern California beginning July 1, 2008.

October 13, 2007 – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approved the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, signing the bill into law.

December 7, 2007 – The California Fish and Game Commission approved additional hunting regulations for 2008 that expanded the requirements for central and Southern California hunters to use non-lead bullets in the condor range. The new regulations also birds and mammals in the condor range.

March 26, 2008 – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to allow the Tejon Ranch Company to kill and harass the California condor.

May 8, 2008 – The Tejon Ranch Company and several environmental organizations — not including the Center — announced a deal that could pave the way for massive development in the Tehachapi Mountains north of Los Angeles. The deal allows for the destruction of federally designated California condor critical habitat to make way for thousands of luxury vacation estates.

September 9, 2008 – A coalition of conservation groups, including the Center, filed suit against the Bush administration over weak forest-management plans that threaten wildlife in 10 Sierra Nevada national forests, including the condor.

October 22, 2008 – Through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Center obtained GPS and satellite data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reaffirming that California condors still feed and roost in areas slated for development in the May 8 “conservation deal.”

December 3, 2008 – The Center reached a settlement with the California Fish and Game Commission and the California Department of Fish and Game extending the protections of the Ridley-Tree Condor Conservation Act by eliminating lead ammunition for depredation hunting, the shooting of animals deemed a nuisance or threat. The commission also agreed to consider prescribing a similar ban on lead ammunition for the hunting of small mammals that are part of the condor’s diet.

December 9, 2008 – The Center filed a notice of intent to sue the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service for the agencies’ failure to protect the California condor, desert tortoise, and other species in crafting a management plan for huge tracts of public land near the Grand Canyon.