CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asking a federal judge in Idaho for a one-week extension in filing an endangered species finding for the greater sage grouse.
A finding is due Friday. Attorneys for Fish and Wildlife requested the extension Monday because the agency’s director, Sam Hamilton, died Saturday after suffering chest pains while skiing in Colorado.
The deadline to pursue listing of sage grouse as either endangered, not endangered, threatened or warranted for listing but precluded by higher priorities results from a lawsuit filed by Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project.
The group’s executive director, Jon Marvel, says Western Watersheds won’t oppose the extension request before U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.
