Judge Orders Halt To Clearing Rare Land Targeted For Walmart

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A victory Friday for environmentalists fighting a construction project in Southwest Miami-Dade.

A Miami district court judge ordered bulldozers to stop clearing land for a Walmart shopping center near Zoo Miami.

The ruling came just hours after a number of environmental groups sued in federal court to overturn a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to move ahead with the project.

The site in question is rare forest land, part of what was once one of the largest tracks of pine rockland outside Everglades National Park.

The Miami Tiger Beetle and the Miami Rock Snake are found nowhere else in the world except for that forest.

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• Walmart