PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Conservation groups want a court to order a federal agency to submit overdue plans for wildlife refuges in the Klamath Basin.
The high-desert refuges are the remnants of once-extensive wetlands and an important stop for migrating birds.
Environmentalists are critical of leasing farmland on the refuges, saying irrigation water flows readily, but the wetlands are shorted, harming wildlife.
The suit filed Thursday says most of the nation’s refuges complied with a 1997 law that required each to develop a “comprehensive conservation plan” by October 2012, but the Klamath system has not. It says the aim of the law is to prevent commercial activities from harming fish and wildlife.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Matt Baun said tight budgets delayed the plans, but a draft is being readied for release.
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