An environmentalist group has reached a tentative settlement with the USDA in a lawsuit accusing the agency’s predator control efforts of violating federal law.

Attorneys for USDA and Wildearth Guardians, an environmental non-profit, have notified the judge overseeing the case that they’ve struck a deal “in principle, subject to approval by the appropriate government officials.”

The notice doesn’t contain any specifics about the proposed settlement but said that a status report will be submitted to the judge on Sept. 6. Capital Press wasn’t able to reach attorneys for the government or the non-profit for details about the deal.

Wildearth Guardians alleges the predator control strategy of USDA’s Wildlife Services division is based on outdated studies about its impact on only 17 species, but the agency regularly kills more than 300 species, including threatened and endangered animals and household pets.

“The American landscape has been substantially altered by rapid human population growth and the subsequent modification of wildlife habitat in the past two decades, while the Wildlife Services’ program has expanded,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit accused USDA of violating the National Environmental Policy Act by refusing to revise its scientific analysis of the program but a judge initially dismissed the lawsuit in 2013.

Last year, however, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case, overturning the previous decision that Wildearth Guardians wasn’t harmed by the predator control program and thus lacked legal standing to challenge it.

Wildearth Guardians sought an order halting USDA’s predator control efforts as well as specific actions in Nevada, where the lawsuit was filed, until a more thorough study was complete,

USDA previously argued the case should be dismissed because the agency is directed by Congress to assist with killing coyotes, cougars and other predators that prey on livestock.

However, court records show the agency stopped fighting the lawsuit once it was resurrected and instead entered settlement negotiations with Wildearth Guardians.