A court ruling in September said redevelopment of existing wildlife water sources on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge near Yuma did not violate federal environmental policy laws. 

U.S. District Court Judge Mary H. Murguia ruled that a decision by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to allow redevelopment of two existing water catchments using motorized equipment did not violate the Wilderness Act and that the agency complied with the National Environmental Policy Act in allowing the work to occur.

The redevelopments were done to provide more dependable sources of water for wildlife in refuge areas where access to water was limited.

The ruling is a significant win for federal and state wildlife management authorities in their on-going effort to improve habitat conditions that help support healthy wildlife populations on the refuge.

Wilderness Watch and several other groups had filed a lawsuit in June 2007, trying to prevent continued operation of the wildlife water tanks. Safari Club International, the NRA, the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society, the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep and other hunter-conservation organizations joined with the USFWS to argue in court that water should be provided to this dwindling herd of wild sheep.

For example, since 2000, Kofa