Complaint to Protect Wild Salmon and Steelhead from Mount St. Helens Sediment Retention Structure Spillway Raise

Plaintiffs Wild Fish Conservancy (the “Conservancy”) and Mark Smith bring this action under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531–1544, against Defendants the National Marine Fisheries Service and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) to protect threatened Lower Columbia River Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead from the Corps’ project to raise the spillway crest of the Mount St. Helens Sediment Retention Structure on the North Fork Toutle River. The complaint alleges that the Corps unlawfully relies on a flawed 2022 Biological Opinion and has failed to reinitiate consultation, in violation of its substantive duty to ensure that its actions do not jeopardize these species or adversely modify their designated critical habitat.