Federal wildlife officials are protecting one endangered Everglades bird at the expense of another--and in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other federal law, alleges a new lawsuit.

The Miccosukee tribe is suing U.S. Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At issue is a wildlife service biological opinion that causes water managers to temporarily close five gates that move floodwater from the central Everglades south into Everglades National Park. The practice, which began in 1997, is timed to help a group of Cape Sable seaside sparrows breed in the western half of the park.

The tribe argues that the gate closings have caused "cumulative irreparable harm" to the snail kite, a hawk that chiefly eats apple snails, and its critical habitat. Other Everglades advocates say that the water backed up in Water Conservation Area 3 is causing a litany of

environmental woes. But U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officials defend the Tamiami Trail gate closings as necessary to stave off sparrow extinction.

Jay Slack, a field supervisor for the wildlife service says the wildlife service, has employed sound science and followed regulations properly and is "very comfortable" with the practice.

Dennis Duke, restoration division program manager for the Army Corps, said the hurricanes this year and last may be hindering sparrow recovery.

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