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 FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - More than 400,000 acres of wildlands in the Eastern Sierra Nevada should be made protected habitat for an endangered mountain sheep rebounding from the threat of extinction, the federal government said Wednesday.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's proposed critical habitat designation is a response to a 2005 lawsuit. Environmentalists claim in the suit the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep couldn't recover because their habitat wasn't protected as required under the Endangered Species Act.
Wednesday's proposal should end the argument, federal officials said.
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