"Appeals Court Upholds Protection for Threatened Seabird"

"GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit by the timber industry seeking to strip Endangered Species Act protection from a threatened seabird that nests in old-growth forests.

Environmentalists say the ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., should mark the end of a 15-year legal battle over logging trees used by marbled murrelets along the coasts of Oregon, Washington and northern California.

The American Forest Resources Council had argued that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily and capriciously in designating the U.S. population of marbled murrelets distinct from birds in Canada, despite a line in the law saying political boundaries are a valid reason. The appeals court found the decision did not depart from standard practice, and it let stand a district court ruling."

Jeff Barnard reports for the Associated Press March 2, 2015.