South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says a federal judge in Wyoming is standing by his decision of last year to upheld the management plan for the Black Hills National Forest.

The plan was developed in 1990 and amended in 2005, taking into account a mountain pine beetle epidemic and providing for logging, prescribed burning and other control methods.

Environmental groups sued over concerns about damage to plants and wildlife habitat in the 8,125-square-mile forest in northeastern Wyoming and western South Dakota, but lost.

Although the judge has now rejected their request by the environmental groups to reconsider the ruling, they can still appeal to the U-S Circuit Court of Appeals.