Lawsuit Brewing in Fight over Game Bird in Sierra Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) – Conservationists are headed back to court to try to force the Trump administration to protect a rare game bird along the California-Nevada border.

The government keeps changing its mind about whether to list the cousin of the greater sage grouse as a threatened or endangered species.

Three groups have filed formal notice of their intent to sue after the Fish and Wildlife Service reversed course in March and abandoned its 2018 proposal to list the bi-state grouse.

The hen-sized bird is similar but separate from the greater sage grouse, which lives in a dozen Western states.