RENO, Nev. — Off-road vehicle enthusiasts are suing the U.S. Forest Service over the bistate sage grouse in Nevada and California, arguing that a protection plan enacted this year could increase fire danger across rangeland habitat of the bird already proposed for threatened status.
The California Four Wheel Drive Association and off-road groups in the Sierra and Nevada’s Pine Nut Mountains say the protection measures in Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest weren’t included among the alternatives subjected to scientific scrutiny and public comment as required by federal environmental laws. Their lawsuit was filed Dec. 18 in U.S. District Court in Reno.
The bistate grouse is distinct from and doesn’t live across as big an area as the greater sage grouse, which is at the center of a dispute over Trump administration efforts to roll back protections adopted under President Obama in a dozen Western states.
But there are similarities in the ongoing legal battles over development near bistate grouse habitat.
A formal proposal to list the bird as threatened under the Endangered Species Act was rescinded by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015, only to be reinstated by a federal judge earlier this year.
