Philosophy
Species come, species go...and usually mankind is at fault. Now maybe, the Jaguar has an opportunity to survive.
After more than a decade of resistance, the Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it would reverse previous decisions and protect the habitat of the jaguar.
The sleek, ferocious cats have been listed since 1997 as endangered, the highest level of peril for a wild species. Still, the government has never designated critical habitat for the jaguar or come up with a formal recovery plan, steps that are commonly taken under the Endangered Species Act.
The federal government has given varying reasons for its refusal to act. In 1997, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that to protect the jaguar’s habitat, it would have to make public maps of its range. That would make the animals vulnerable to more poaching, already a primary cause of deaths, it said.
In 2006, the service argued that jaguars were primarily native to South and Central America and that their range in the United States was largely incidental to its survival.
Wildlife advocates sued to protest those findings, pointing out that jaguars were thought to have once ranged from Louisiana to California, although they had rarely been seen in recent decades.
Last March, the Federal District Court in Tucson told the government that it would have to come back with a decision that was soundly based in science.
In theory, the service could have sought again to rule out habitat conservation. But this time the government said it would move to protect critical habitat and would publish a description of the land proposed for the designation.
It also agreed to develop a formal recovery plan, which will envision how the jaguar might make a recovery.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says there are no known jaguars in the United States today. The last jaguar known to exist within the nation’s borders died last March.
However, there are nearly 5,000 in Mexico, and more ranging as far south as Argentina and Paraguay.
The notion behind a critical habitat designation is to enable the jaguar to survive if it ranges north again.
Protecting the jaguar’s habitat will be a complicated challenge. The cats can range over hundreds of square miles to hunt prey, and ranchers have fiercely opposed protection.
Conservationists were exultant on Tuesday, with some predicting that the protection of such a far-ranging species could have a broader impact.
“It will reorient land conservation in the Southwest,” said Michael J. Robinson, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based group that brought the lawsuit.
When the government weighs a plan to allow tree cutting or mining on public lands, for example, he said, it will have to ensure that it will not harm the jaguar’s critical habitat.
“We will see planning to ensure jaguars can reach each other,” he said.
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Philosophy
Jaguars have a chance
International Year of Biodiversity
Species come, species go...and usually mankind is at fault. Now maybe, the Jaguar has an opportunity to survive.
"In Reversal, Jaguar Habitat Will Be Protected"
by
Leslie Kaufman
January 13th, 2010
The New York Times
by
Leslie Kaufman
January 13th, 2010
The New York Times
After more than a decade of resistance, the Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it would reverse previous decisions and protect the habitat of the jaguar.
The sleek, ferocious cats have been listed since 1997 as endangered, the highest level of peril for a wild species. Still, the government has never designated critical habitat for the jaguar or come up with a formal recovery plan, steps that are commonly taken under the Endangered Species Act.
The federal government has given varying reasons for its refusal to act. In 1997, the Fish and Wildlife Service said that to protect the jaguar’s habitat, it would have to make public maps of its range. That would make the animals vulnerable to more poaching, already a primary cause of deaths, it said.
In 2006, the service argued that jaguars were primarily native to South and Central America and that their range in the United States was largely incidental to its survival.
Wildlife advocates sued to protest those findings, pointing out that jaguars were thought to have once ranged from Louisiana to California, although they had rarely been seen in recent decades.
Last March, the Federal District Court in Tucson told the government that it would have to come back with a decision that was soundly based in science.
In theory, the service could have sought again to rule out habitat conservation. But this time the government said it would move to protect critical habitat and would publish a description of the land proposed for the designation.
It also agreed to develop a formal recovery plan, which will envision how the jaguar might make a recovery.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says there are no known jaguars in the United States today. The last jaguar known to exist within the nation’s borders died last March.
However, there are nearly 5,000 in Mexico, and more ranging as far south as Argentina and Paraguay.
The notion behind a critical habitat designation is to enable the jaguar to survive if it ranges north again.
Protecting the jaguar’s habitat will be a complicated challenge. The cats can range over hundreds of square miles to hunt prey, and ranchers have fiercely opposed protection.
Conservationists were exultant on Tuesday, with some predicting that the protection of such a far-ranging species could have a broader impact.
“It will reorient land conservation in the Southwest,” said Michael J. Robinson, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, a Tucson-based group that brought the lawsuit.
When the government weighs a plan to allow tree cutting or mining on public lands, for example, he said, it will have to ensure that it will not harm the jaguar’s critical habitat.
“We will see planning to ensure jaguars can reach each other,” he said.
- Alaotra Grebe--gone
Internation Year of Biodiversity "Bird conservation: Alaotra grebe confirmed extinct" by Matt Walker BBC The Alaotra grebe is extinct, according to the latest assessment of the world's rarest birds. The last known sighting of the bird was in...
- Biodiversity...not A Rosey Picture
International Year of Biodiversity "Despite Global Action, Biodiversity Is Declining" by Bryan Walsh April 29th, 2010 Time In 2002, environment ministers from around the world gathered in The Hague for a major summit on the Convention on Biological...
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International Year of Biodiversity And where does the Japanese giant salamander fit into biodiversity? "Giant salamander: Human threat, human promise" by Richard Black Februrary 5th, 2010 BBC NEWS As we pull into Toyohira, an unusual and unexpected...
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International Year of Biodiversity "Endangered insects to be reintroduced on RSPB reserves" January 21st, 2010 Surfbirds.com This year sees the start of a series of projects at RSPB reserves to release four insect species which are either extinct or...
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International Year of Biodiversity A sad situation...but, species come and go. "Bombing the Land of the Snow Leopard" by Joshua Frank January 9th, 2010 Mostly Water Shipping off 30,000 more troops to the land of the Taliban may be infuriating to devoted...