An off-highway vehicle (OHV) group last week asked the Obama administration to push back its legally binding Sept. 30 deadline to decide whether to protect the greater sage grouse, warning it is prepared to join a "flurry of litigation" against the government's actions. Paul Turcke, an attorney for the national OHV group BlueRibbon Coalition, warned in a letter to administration officials that land-use restrictions proposed by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to avoid an Endangered Species Act listing for the sage grouse are untested and need additional environmental review. While the BLM and Forest Service plans are the cornerstone of federal efforts to avoid a listing, they include "unjustified and unacceptable conditions" that could harm the interest of motorized recreation, Turcke wrote.
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