Groups sue over bull trout recovery plan

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two Montana environmental groups have filed a lawsuit demanding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finish developing recovery plans for bull trout, a threatened species that has gone 15 years without a blueprint for saving it from extinction.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan filed their complaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.

Michael Garrity of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies says the service produced draft recovery plans about 10 years ago, but has not finished any of them.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Brent Lawrence says the agency plans to offer new draft recovery plans this year.

The bull trout has disappeared from half its historical range in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Nevada due to habitat loss from logging, mining, dams and livestock grazing.