A coalition of enviros and fishing groups banded together yesterday in filing a lawsuit to force the feds to protect the Rio Grande cutthroat trout under the Endangered Species Act. Although 95 percent of the fish’s habitat has been lost, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last September that it would not consider adding the fish to endangered or threatened species lists because efforts were already underway to ensure its survival. Enviros say that that’s bunk and that the Fish and Wildlife Service declined to study the cutthroat because of pressure from logging and livestock interests. If the cutthroat were listed, logging and grazing could be curtailed.
