In response to a federal court ruling, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened a review of whether the Colorado River cutthroat trout should be placed on either the endangered or threatened species list.

The agency had denied federal protection for the fish in 2004, prompting the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, based in Laramie, and the Center for Biological Diversity, based in Tucson, Ariz., to take the agency to court.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington found that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to follow its own procedures. The judge ordered the agency to conduct a review open to public comment within nine months.

The agency said intends to complete the 12-month review by the court-ordered due date of June 7, 2007.

Dams, competition from nonnative species like brook trout, and hybridization with rainbow trout have pushed populations of Colorado River cutthroat trout to the upper reaches of the Colorado River tributaries in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

For more of this and other stories read Wednesday's Casper Star-Tribune.