Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy is preparing for a hearing next week in an effort to bring more parties into its lawsuit against Kittson County.

On Oct. 27, MCEA will ask Kittson County DIstrict Court Judge Donna Dixon for permission to amend the complaint to include Roseau County and the joint drainage authority.

"We have new evidence relative to the case and it pionts to greater involvement by Roseau County in the drainage," said Matt Norton, MCEA's lawyer in the case.

The case filed against Kittson County two years ago alleges that county officials cleaned out a 95-year-old ditch that had not been maintained for years. The result of that work caused significant damage or destroyed an incredibly rare fen on state-owned wildlife management area land. Habitat for threatened bird species and threatened plant species was damaged, Norton said.

In the suit, MCEA alleges violation of the Minnesota Wetlands Conservation Action, the federal Clean Water Act, the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act , the Minnesota Environmental Rights Act and the state drainage law by deepening the ditch beyond the depth of its original construction.

MCEA is asking that Kittson County undo the work and abandon the ditches.

Regardless how Dixon rules after next week's hearing on bringing in other parties, the trial will go forward on April 26 in Hallock..