Groups Sue to Stop Irrigation, Save Bird

Environmentalists who fear a plan to divert water to eastern Arkansas farms will harm the habitat of the recently rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker filed a federal lawsuit Thursday.

The project would pump 100 billion gallons of water per year from the White River. The Arkansas Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation said diverting so much water would harm the woods that are the woodpecker’s habitat.

The groups Thursday sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to halt work on the irrigation project.

“The ivory-billed woodpecker has a rare chance at recovery, but no one is listening,” said David Carruth, president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation.

Bob Anderson, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Memphis, Tenn., said the corps’ lawyers had not yet seen the lawsuit.

“We believe that this project will not have a negative impact on the environment or on the bird’s ecosystem,” Anderson said. “We’re all very interested in saving the bird.”

Work started in June on a $34.5-million pumping station on the White River. The project is designed to make sure that farmers have water to irrigate their fields as their longtime water source -- an underground aquifer -- is slowly drying up.