Sonoran Desert Tortoise no longer candidate for federal protection

The Sonoran tundra tortoise would not be vulnerable for eliminating which enables you to no longer be listed as a candidate for Endangered Species Act protections, the Simply.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported Monday.

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

The desert tortoise was categorized as a candidate for federal protections after the Fish and Wildlife Service discovered that growing population rate in the Southwest and northern Mexico was posing threats to the habitat of the animal.

SAHBA has also been participating with state and federal agencies to set up a conservation agreement in which homebuilders would agree to take a few conservation measures to protect the tortoise, he said. And population counts indicate there are more than 400,000 Sonoran desert tortoises in the wild in the US and Mexico, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Not to say that it isn’t warranted but it does cost us time and money.

“Any endangered species listing costs time and money”.

“North American freshwater species are going extinct at a rate comparable to the loss of species from tropical rainforests and 1,000 times faster than the background rate in the fossil record”, said Greenwald.

The USFWS have been monitoring the Sonoran Desert Tortoises for seven years, and a few months ago they concluded that the risks and threats to the tortoise are not serious enough for listing it as endangered or threatened, at least for the next 10 years.

Jones stated, “If a conservation agreement will accomplish that goal then that’s awesome we’re all for that”, citing the group is note keen local voluntary conservation arrangement that are not doable and won’t give appropriate protection.

Jones said that they haven’t ruled out legal action against Fish and Wildlife’s decision to remove the animal from endangered list.

“We operate wherever there’s development, so it could have potentially, among other things, had a major impact on our industry”, Trussell said.