Conservationists are suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over habitat for two threatened snake species in Arizona and New Mexico.
The Center for Biological Diversity says the agency reduced by 90% areas where two garter snakes live that had previously been slated for protection.
According to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Fish and Wildlife ignored its own scientists in failing to protect hundreds of miles of streams in violation of federal law.
The center says the narrow-headed garter snake and the northern Mexican garter snake are under threat from livestock grazing, mining, agriculture and drought.