SEATTLE - A federal judge said Thursday he intends to limit how much private conservation land the Bush administration opens to hay production and cattle grazing, after environmentalists cried foul.

In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that in response to rising grain and food prices, it would allow farmers and ranchers nationwide to make hay or graze their cattle on 24 million acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, a $2 billion-a-year federal program which pays farmers not to plant crops in order to return fields to native vegetation.

The National Wildlife Foundation and its Washington, Indiana, South Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana and Kansas chapters sued, saying the agency didn't properly consider the environmental impact of allowing grazing and haying on the conservation land, especially the effect on grassland birds. Although the grazing and haying would only be allowed from this month through early November, the damage to wintering areas and habitat for the birds, as well as water quality, could last for years, they argued.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour temporarily blocked the agency's decision last week. During a hearing Thursday, he extended his temporary restraining order until next Tuesday, calling the USDA's cursory environmental review in support of its decision a "joke."

But the judge also said he appreciates the plight of farmers and ranchers. He said next week he plans to issue an injunction limiting how much of the conservation land can be opened to haying and grazing, and he asked lawyers for both sides to help craft an urgent compromise.

In North Dakota, Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said the Seattle ruling should not affect emergency grazing on CRP land in 26 counties. That land was opened for drought-stricken farmers through an emergency order, he said.

Established in the 1985 federal farm bill, the Conservation Reserve Program is the nation's largest conservation program covering private lands. About 760,000 farmers have enrolled 34 million acres in the program.