Marbled murrelets -- a robin-sized seabird that lays eggs in old growth woods -- is at risk of extinction in the lower 48, but is it special enough to protect?

The American Forest Resource Council, an Oregon-based non-profit representing timber companies, filed suit in federal court Wednesday to undo federal protections for the vanishing birds.

The murrelet population has shrunk to about 24,400 birds in Washington, Oregon and California, where they were deemed "threatened" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1992.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., the timber group is arguing that the birds are not different enough from populations in Canada and Alaska to merit protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The black-and-white, rubber ducky-shaped birds feed on small fish and microscopic sea life. They nest in old-growth woods, particularly mossy trees or sometimes on the ground. Threats to the bird include the loss of suitable woods for nesting thanks to logging and urbanization and being drowned by gill-net fisheries and oil pollution.

Approximately 270,000 birds live in Alaska, based on recent estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey. Because of that abundance, Chris West, vice president of American Forest Resource Council, says the local birds don't legally qualify as a population that's distinct from the Alaskan birds.

"A distinct population is an isolated, unique entity and that (threatened population) does not meet that test," he said.

His group sued the government in 2002 to force them to review the status of the birds.

In August 2004, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued its conclusions from the review.

"The threat situation has not changed such that the murrelet (distinct population segment) is no longer likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range," the scientists stated.

They noted, however, that the birds did not qualify as unique from their Alaskan relations, and called for a range-wide review of their status. That review has not been done, though a study of the birds in Alaska and Canada was completed this year.

But in September 2004, the Bush administration recommended that the birds be cut from the endangered species list.

West's group wants the government to follow through on that advice. With the murrelet on the list, logging is restricted and additional hoops are required to gain permission to cut down trees where it is allowed.

"It's the bureaucracy and waste of money that's the real issue here," West said.

Already protection of the birds has shrunk. In the fall, the government axed 94 percent of previously designated protected marbled murrelet habitat in Washington, Oregon and California.

Environmental groups want the government to follow its scientists' advice.

"In order for (Fish and Wildlife) to go forward with delisting, they would have to go contrary to their science," said Patti Goldman, a Seattle attorney with Earthjustice.

"The reality is that the murrelets' numbers are in steep decline in the area covered in the Northwest forests," she said. "They're likely to become extinct in northern California in two decades. We're talking about a species that needs federal protection and not the logging the (American Forest Resource Council) would like to see."