Desert tortoise no longer candidate for federal protection

A spokesman for the service informed The Associated Press about the decision on Wednesday.

Three months ago, Representative Paul Gosar passed a proposal to impediment the USFWS from listing the Sonoran Desert Tortoise, as Endangered Species.

Statements by Gosar and McCain are below.

In response to this, conservationists still worry about what lies ahead for the desert tortoise. Listing a species may be easy, but delisting is extremely hard. Both have disappeared from more than half of the streams where they were once found. In return, homebuilders would get assurances that they wouldn’t be hit with additional conservation requirements for the tortoise later, he said. Neither are on the ESA candidate species list. “This model must be followed during the Services consideration to list any future species”.

Meanwhile, landowners fear taking any action to preserve wildlife for fear they will lose control of their land if an endangered species is found on it or it is determined to be a habitat for species on the list.

“And, because the black pinesnake is found in the same geographic areas as other listed species like the population of threatened gopher tortoises west of the Tombigbee Waterway, endangered dusky gopher frog, and endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, a few protections are already in place”.

States and landowners address threats to Great Basin population of Columbia spotted frog.

The California-based Center for Environmental Science, Accuracy & Reliability wanted the federal government to classify the eels as threatened. This rider was subsequently attached to the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016. Approximately 9 million acres would be in Congressman Gosar’s district. It was listed as a threatened species in 1990.

The desert tortoise was originally considered for protection due to threats including urban development, roads, and illegal pet trade.

Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate for the WildEarth Guardians, criticized the decision, saying development and highway construction have fragmented the tortoise’s habitat. Restoration of their habitat is part of the exceptions which will allow their transfer. USFWS informed us that the species’ status in Guam drove the listing decision, but we feel that this is unjustified. Instead, federal and state stakeholders are collaborating on a conservation agreement that represents a more flexible and effective way to protect the tortoise. A decision is expected in September of 2016. There are about 470,000 to 970,000 adult desert tortoises in the USA and Mexico.

The reptile was offered federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2010 after wildlife researchers discovered that rising human population in Arizona and Northern Sonora threatened the animal.

The FWS decision found that “robust scientific analysis” illustrated that the Sonoran Desert Tortoise population is adequately protected from both natural and anthropogenic stressors.

A professor of biology at Arizona Western College, Cecilia Vigil, said that the protection of the tortoise still needs to be there to avoid the circumstances that were there in the previous years. The improved young forest habitat that resulted from these efforts benefits not only the cottontail, but at least 65 other species, including woodcock, bobcats, snowshoe hares, songbirds, box turtles and frosted elfin butterflies.

The Service revised the exemptions based on the valuable input from state conservation agencies, the forest products industry, and others that was received during two public comment periods totaling 120 days.