According to the new proposals announced by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday, wood stork should no longer be classified as endangered rather they must be switched to the category of the threatened ones.

The News-Press reports have revealed an increase in the number of wood stork nesting, with them estimating the birds' nesting range to have become almost doubled since it was listed as endangered in the year 1984 by the concerned authorities.

The proposal was published in the Federal Register later this week post which a 60-day public comment period has been started to collect the views of all. As far as the decision of the officials is concerned, it is expected sometime in 2013.

The issue came to light with the announcements of the federal wildlife officials, who said on Tuesday that they have proposed the concerned authorities about lifting the "endangered" classification for wood storks to the threatened ones as the species range has been cited to have spread from Florida to other southeastern states.

But some environmentalists are not in the favor of the proposal because they fear that wood storks are still struggling in South Florida, where they previously were concentrated.