Feds: Efforts to Block Sage Grouse Protection Could Backfire - ABC News

Attempts by rural Nevada counties, mining companies and others to block new U.S. policies intended to protect the greater sage grouse could backfire on the critics and ultimately force reconsideration of a recent decision to keep the bird off the list of endangered species, federal land managers warn.

Justice Department lawyers representing three U.S. agencies say it took an unprecedented effort by officials in 11 western states from California to the Dakotas to persuade the Fish and Wildlife Service last month to reverse its 2010 conclusion that protection of the grouse was warranted under the Endangered Species Act.

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