Lawsuit aims to keep N. Idaho road near border closed

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration decision to reopen a long-closed road built through grizzly bear habitat in northern Idaho.

The Center for Biological Diversity and four other groups contend the road will harm grizzly bears, mountain caribou and other wildlife in the Selkirk Mountains.

The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last month announced plans to reopen more than 5 miles of Bog Creek Road because of threats to border security. The agencies didn't specify the types of threats.

The road was closed in the late 1980s to protect endangered grizzly bears roaming the area between Upper Priest Lake and the Canadian border.

"Not only is this proposed road bad for bears, it's also totally unnecessary for border security," said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Federal officials have said repairing the road will allow Border Protection agents to catch perpetrators before they can reach populated areas where they can blend in and elude apprehension.