A U.S. district court has ruled U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2015 wrongly denied Endangered Species Act protection for the bi-state sage grouse, which lives in parts of California and Nevada. The next step will be a court hearing to determine when the agency must reconsider federal protection for the bird, a genetically unique and isolated sage grouse species that inhabits the Mono Basin on the California-Nevada border and faces multiple threats to its survival. Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity says “Sage grouse in the Mono Basin have been sliding toward extinction for years. The Endangered Species Act can save them, but only if they actually get protected.”