Two relatively unknown environmental groups “have increasingly dominated the process of species protection” and prompted a backlash by pro-business Republicans in Congress, says Reuters. Work by the Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians to protect the greater sage grouse has led to allegations by opponents that the groups are manipulating the Endangered Species Act with aggressive legal actions. The government must decide by Sept. 30 whether to list the bird as threatened or endangered. “The stakes are high because the sage grouse’s range is so vast, covering 165 million acres – a little under the size of Texas,” says Reuters. Western lawmakers included a rider on a Defense Department bill to prevent a listing for 10 years, but it is not clear if it will become law.