Judge Denies WWP Request to List the Grouse

An Idaho-based conservation group will have to file a new lawsuit if it wants to challenge a decision this spring regarding protections for the greater sage grouse.

In March, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the grouse, which inhabits sagebrush habitats across the West, should be listed under the Endangered Species Act but that other species take priority for now, deferring the listing. The decision was a result of a lawsuit filed by the Western Watersheds Project. The organization asked, after last month's announcement, to supplement its complaint, challenging the listing deferral.

In a decision filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill denied the group's request, ruling that federal officials complied with an earlier court order and that he sees "no extraordinary circumstances" that would require him to reconsider earlier decisions.

Reprinted in part from Twin Falls Times-News, Idaho