The ivory-billed woodpecker is already the stuff of legends, having recently resurfaced in the prairies of Arkansas after it was presumed extinct for more than half a century. Now the green community's favorite feathered friend – known to some as the “feathered Elvis”—is playing a lead role in a lawsuit against a $319 million dollar project to dredge aquifers that wildlife experts say would be a “a recipe for disaster” for the bird.

Next week, the lawsuit will be heard against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, which covers a 242,000-acre region, according to MSNBC.com. The Corps plans to shore up aquifers depleted from rice farming by working with farmers to build a system of reservoirs and canals that will be filled with water diverted from the White River.

Environmentalists from The National Wildlife Federation have characterized the project as a “mammoth sucking machine” that would damage wetlands and bedevil many species including the beloved woodpecker.

Photo credit: MSNBC.com, Reuters file