USFWS reconsidering status of bistate sage grouse in NV-CA

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it’s going back to the drawing board with its plans to protect a type of imperiled game bird found only along the California-Nevada line after a federal judge struck down its decision to rescind a proposal to list it as threatened.

The agency announced late Thursday it will reopen the public comment period on whether to protect the bistate sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act.

A judge ruled last May that the agency acted illegally in 2015 when it withdrew an earlier proposal to list the bistate grouse as a distinct, threatened segment of the larger population of the greater sage grouse.

That chicken-sized bird is at the center of a dispute over Trump administration efforts to roll back protections adopted under President Obama across 11 western states.