Federal officials have put off designating a more than 500,000-acre critical habitat for the threatened yellow-billed cuckoo, reopening a public comment period for 60 more days.
Comprising 546,335 acres in nine states, the habitat would help to shield the cuckoo population from diminishing further, but it would also place restrictions on water providers and others, the Denver Post reported.
Members of Congress urged for the delay, citing vital activities that would be curtailed by the designated habitat in a recent letter.
"This proposal lists as 'threats' a number of critical activities in rural areas, including operation of dams, reservoirs, diversions, groundwater pumping, channel and floodplain clearing, grazing, agriculture, irrigation, water withdrawals, mining, forest management, residential construction, road-building and maintenance, control of invasive species and fire management and [use] of crop protection products," said the letter that 18 congressional representatives signed, as quoted by the Post.
While the public comment period for the habitat designation ended on Tuesday, U.S. Fish and Wildlife service officials have decided to reopen it for 60 more days to allow for more public review. The 550,000-acre critical habitat will be spread among Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming if it is officially designated, according to the Sierra Sun Times.
The American Bird Conservancy puts the yellow-billed cuckoo's numbers nationwide at around 350 to 495 pairs. Arizona has the biggest population, while Oregon, Washington and Montana haven't had any recent yellow-billed cuckoo sightings.
Dams, livestock, river channelization and other habitat disruptions have proven devastating for the cuckoo, which breeds in forests of cottonwood and willow. Conservationists have been fighting to protect the bird under the Endangered Species Act since 1998, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
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