The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has rejected a bid by conservationists in the Sierra Nevada to block logging of burned forest habitat for a rare woodpecker at Lake Tahoe.
The Associated Press reports a three-judge panel in San Francisco upheld an earlier ruling in district court in Sacramento dismissing a lawsuit by the Earth Island Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity challenging the logging intended to reduce fire threats.
The environmentalists argued the Forest Service failed to prove the project won't threaten the survival of the blackbacked woodpecker. But the court ruled the agency's not required to ensure the viability of species on national forests if they're not protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Conservationist lawyer Rachel Fazio says the ruling undermines critical wildlife protections in place since the Reagan administration. (AP)
