TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)- Federal Fish and Wildlife officials say a plan to reduce water flows in the Apalachicola River won't irreversibly doom four endangered species.

Flows in the Florida Panhandle river are being reduced as part of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drought management plans. The plans
keep more water upstream in Georgia.

On Monday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a biological
opinion on the Corps' plan. It said it won't "appreciably reduce the likelihood that the four listed species can survive nor would it preclude their future recovery.''

Some biologists have raised concerns about the impact of lower water flow on the Gulf sturgeon fish, and three mussels: the fat threeridge mussel, the purple bankclimber and the Chipola slabshell.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)