Van Ness Feldman represents the North Slope Borough, the largest county-level political subdivision in the United States by area (94,763 square miles), in federal court litigation involving the Endangered Species Act. Specifically, the firm successfully represented North Slope Borough in a challenge to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s designation of critical habitat for the polar bear. In this lawsuit, the U.S. District Court in Anchorage vacated and remanded the USFW's designation of polar bear critical habitat. The federal government has appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, the firm is currently representing the North Slope Borough in a challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s listing of the ice seal as an ESA “threatened species.” On behalf of the North Slope Borough, Van Ness Feldman filed this lawsuit in federal district court in July 2013.