GRANTS PASS -- Pushed by a lawsuit, the federal government on Thursday proposed a http://species.fws.gov/bulltrout recovery plan and critical habitat for the threatened bull trout that covers 10 percent of the rivers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Following the settlement of a lawsuit brought by Montana environmental groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it plans to designate 18,468 miles of streams and 532,721 acres of lakes and reservoirs as critical to the survival of the species.

The agency estimates that it will take 25 years and $500 million to restore bull trout to sustainable populations spread across their range by restoring habitat, removing abandoned dams that block migration, and tracking down sources of pollution, said spokeswoman Joan Jewett.

The waterways are primarily on federal lands but include state and private lands. All are in the Columbia Basin and headwaters of the Klamath River. Ann Badgley, regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the main purpose of a series of public hearings to be held around the Northwest during the next 60 days will be to decide if all the proposed waterways are essential to the species' survival.

Though logging is banned in wilderness areas, grazing, mining and recreation are allowed, all of which can hurt bull trout, Kaz Thea, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said. If lands covered by a habitat conservation plan are sold, the new owner is not bound by the plan. To recover, bull trout need to expand into waters that they historically occupied.

Streams exempted due to habitat conservation plans are all in western Washington.

Rivers range from remote mountain streams, such as Annie Creek on the flanks of Crater Lake in Oregon, to major waterways, such as the Willamette and McKenzie rivers running through such cities as Eugene and Salem. Bull trout aren't a trout, but a char, a member of the salmon family.