The U.S. Forest Service is proposing revisions for managing the greater sage-grouse in Nevada and five other Western states, the latest move by the administration in a decades-long dispute that represents the tension between development and conservation on federal land.

According to a notice posted in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the Forest Service is asking for public comments on its proposal to revise state plans for managing sage grouse habitat that were approved in 2015 under the Obama administration. The proposal would lift restrictions on water development for livestock and allow more mining in sensitive sagebrush zones.

The 2015 plans placed restrictions on land use — mainly grazing and mining — in an effort to bolster dwindling populations of the stately bird known for an elaborate mating ritual and avoid an Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing. The plans were approved as a bipartisan compromise between development interests, Western governors and environmentalists to avoid a listing, something that would bring development to a halt and cripple rural economies.

Groups expected the Forest Service's proposal, and it follows similar revisions to what the Bureau of Land Management announced last month. A spokesman for the Forest Service told the Associated Press that the plan "is to be, on the whole, neutral to positive for the grouse."

Western governors have expressed concern that "wholesale changes" to the 2015 rules could result in a future ESA listing, something they want to avoid. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service postponed a listing in 2015, because of the plan, but said it would revisit its decision in 2020.

A spokesperson for Gov. Brian Sandoval said in a statement this week that "the governor and his staff have been actively involved with the administration, the Western Governors Association and other stakeholders to make sure any amendments to the land use management plans are sound, so as to prevent a listing of the greater sage-grouse."

Sen. Dean Heller has supported a rider on the National Defense Authorization Act that would exempt the sage grouse from being listed for 10 years. In a letter on Friday, five sportsmen groups, including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and Nevada Wildlife Federation urged Heller to withdraw his support for the rider, arguing that it would subvert the 2015 planning framework.

"This unnecessary provision is wholly unrelated to our national defense, and would undermine years of collaboration between Western governors, ranchers, sportsmen, conservationists, and other stakeholders to conserve the sage-grouse and its habitat," the groups said in the letter.

In November, the Forest Service began reviewing the 2015 plan after a federal court in Nevada last March ruled with mining companies that the agency had not created enough opportunity for the public to participate in the process. The current proposals came out of roughly 55,000 public comments the agency started its review. Comments for the plan will be taken until July 20, according to the Federal Register notice, and can be submitted online.