The service added that although its population is much lower than the 1970’s but now it has seemingly stabilized.
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The sage grouse is an unlikely lightning rod for public policy reform, but the eccentric-looking bird now finds itself at the center of a debate over the future of conservation of endangered wildlife in the United States. In 2011, the FWS agreed to make a final determination on whether the species qualified as threatened or endangered by the end of September 2015. Dozens of species have been wiped out since humans first arrived on the islands, carrying with them diseases and invasive species such as rats, cats, feral pigs and mosquitoes. There are between 470,000 and 970,000 adult tortoises in the USA and Mexico.
The Sonoran desert tortoise is still considered a “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” and the collection of wild tortoise still remains illegal in the US.
The reality is that the Fish and Wildlife Service is under constant pressure from the oil and gas industry, big agriculture and other industries (and their cronies in Congress) that feel their bottom line is threatened by efforts to save imperiled wildlife from extinction. 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 service even cited a recent conservation agreement which was signed between federal agencies & the Arizona Game & Fish for continuing to identify & address any threats to this tortoise over 55% of its habitat. “This decision shows that state and federal collaboration can balance Arizona’s continued economic growth with shared tortoise-management goals”, Congressman Gosar stated, Political News reported.
The federal and state agencies have conflicting statistics on the areas these fish inhabit. In addition to benefiting from laws and regulations protecting listed fish in its habitat, the Cumberland arrow darter is also aided by the Forest Service’s management efforts on Daniel Boone National Forest. “We wanted to share them as guideposts for how we might move forward more productively, affordably, and with greater success”, he said. The group was one of two along with Western Watersheds Project to have petitioned the wildlife service for Sonoran Desert tortoise protection. “I’m hopeful that Endangered Species Act protection for two more fish species will spur action to restore rivers that are the lifeblood of the region for people and other animals alike”.
We concluded that a number of the 23 species included here do not meet the definitions of “threatened” or “endangered”, and we did not feel that these require federal protection at this time.
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The fish are threatened by non-native fish, habitat destruction due to dams, channelization and groundwater pumping, as well as mining, grazing, pollution, development and climate change, according to the agency.
