A slow-moving land snail known to live only in the Uinta Mountains of northwestern Utah could get in the way of fast-track timber sales.

Two Western conservation groups joined Utah Environmental Congress on Tuesday to formally notify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to take legal action to require the federal government to protect the Uinta mountain snail from logging and road-building.

Thought to be extinct for decades, the Uinta mountain snail was rediscovered alive in 2000 in the Uinta Mountains in the Ashley National Forest of Duchesne County. Only one population of the snail is known to exist, in an area less than an acre in size.

In 2001, UEC submitted a petition to protect the snail under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service, which is required to make a preliminary finding on petitions within 90 days, has not yet acted on the petition.

But Forest Service officials at the Ashley National Forest agreed to do a number of things in order to protect the snail.

They have fallen short of their agreement, say conservationists.

"This being the only existing population of the Uinta mountain snails in the entire world, it is obvious that the Forest Service hasn't lived up to the agreement that they made with the UEC," said Stephanie Tidwell, executive director of UEC.

Forest Service officials, who were unavailable for comment Tuesday, constructed a fence to protect the snail's habitat. But conservationists say the fence hasn't been effective and land managers haven't maintained it. The snail is threatened by livestock grazing, downstream logging and a prescribed fire planned near the snail's only population.

"When we petitioned for the listing, the Forest Service agreed to make mitigations so we didn't sue for emergency listing," Tidwell said.

Described as a "canary in the coal mine," the snail is considered an important indicator of overall forest health. The snail depends on undisturbed forest habitat, making it especially vulnerable to the effects of poor forest management, conservationists say.

"The Uinta mountain snail and other land snails are the building blocks of a healthy forest," said Jeremy Nichols, endangered species program director of the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, based in Laramie, Wyo.

The Center for Native Ecosystems, a Denver-based group, also is threatening to initiate a lawsuit to force protections.

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E-mail: donna@desnews.com