ENDANGERED SPECIES -- A petition seeking to drop woodland caribou as a lost cause for endangered species protections was turned down by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today, the Associated Press reports.

However, the Fish and Wildlife Service downlisted the caribou from endangered to threatened status based on a larger area of Canada being included in the protected population. 

The petition had been filed by Pacific Legal Foundation (a law firm that specializes in challenging environmental causes) along with Bonner County and the Idaho State Snowmobile Association, which sought to remove protections and habitat restrictions that would open more federal land for development and motorized recreation.