LITTLE ROCK, Ark., July 21 (UPI) -- Construction has been halted on a $319 million Arkansas irrigation project until officials can prove it won't harm the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker.
The bird may or may not still exist. The ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct until it allegedly was sighted in February 2004, but scientists have been unable to confirm that sighting.
Granting a temporary injunction sought by environmentalists, U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson ruled Thursday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers should have conducted a more expansive survey that included the woodpecker's habitat, the Arkansas News Bureau reports.
Wilson ordered comprehensive surveys of areas in which the woodpecker nests, roosts or forages within 2.5 miles of any planned construction site.
The irrigation project, in the eastern part of the state, calls for construction of an intricate system of canals and pipes to bring as much as 115 billion gallons of water a day from the White River to farmers in Grand Prairie.
The Arkansas Wildlife Federal and the National Wildlife Federation filed objections to the project.
