Sonoran Desert Tortoise Won’t Have Endangered Species Protection

The Sonoran desert tortoise is not at risk for extinction and will no longer be listed as a candidate for Endangered Species Act protections. It’s found in drainages, tributaries of the Verde River and parts of the upper Gila River.

The agency has said that the decision has been taken partially because of the commitments made by various government agencies for the protection of the animal in Arizona. The minnow is olive-gray to silver with a lighter belly. The Sonoran desert tortoise will still receive protections from the state as a “species of greatest conservation need”.

Separately, Game and Fish said this week in a news release that it “fully supports and agrees with the federal decision not to list the Sonoran desert tortoise under the Endangered Species Act because our decades-long scientific studies show that the species is stable”.

On the other hand, environmentalists were very unsatisfied at the USFWS decision, and complained that it was based mostly on what they called “theoretical” science and not relevant data.

However, with the help of local conservation efforts, the tortoise population remained steady.

Many applauded the Fish and Wildlife for taking action promptly.

In addition, The Sonoran tortoise lives mostly in Southern, Western and Northwestern Arizona and in two-thirds of Northern Sonora.

Jeff Humphrey, the agency’s speaker expressed. Reached in 2011, the settlement is aimed at clearing a backlog of pending listing cases for species heretofore treated as candidate species and living in what amounts to endangered species limbo.

The two Southwest fish species are beset by a multitude of threats, including competition with, and predation by, nonnative fish and habitat degradation related to livestock grazing, water withdrawal, dams, urban and agricultural development and now climate change.

Desert tortoises in the Mojave Desert have had protection under the Endangered Species Act since 1990.

Taylor Jones, an endangered species advocate with WildEarth Guardians, casted doubt on the Fish and Wildlife evaluation and whether or not the local and federal organizations will indeed be committed to safeguarding the tortoise. “It’s not clear as to whether the service used any real population analysis”.