A ban on gathering firewood in New Mexico and Arizona has been lifted.
The decision stemmed from a case in which environmentalists accused the federal government of failing to track Mexican spotted owls.
The U.S. Forest Service is still suspending timber sales, thinning projects and prescribed burns in five New Mexico forests and the Tonto National Forest in Arizona to comply with the ruling.
New Mexico Republican lawmakers said in a letter that the initial decision would have had devastating consequences on communities that rely on that firewood to heat their homes in the winter.
