Jaguar Conservation Team Meeting - April 27th & 28th - Update

First, we would like to thank everyone that was able to attend the Jaguar Conservation Team meeting last Thursday and Friday in Lordsburg, NM. Your support was greatly appreciated and we have some good news to report.

A coalition of NM Soil and Water Conservation District representatives showed up to express their concerns with the mapping/conservation effort and asked that they be allowed to become signators on the Memorandum of Agreement. After a very long discussion with Terry Johnson, Chairman of the Jaguar Conservation Team, it was voted by the signators at the meeting to allow the NRCD's to become members.

Later in the meeting, another vote was taken that limited the priority conservation area for jaguar to Hidalgo County, NM., and Cochise, Pima and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona.

Our next task will be to send in comments on the new conservation framework - so your involvement is critical!!

If you have not signed up for the jaguar update list on the Arizona Game and Fish Department's website, we would encourage you to do so. To receive electronic updates, including the public notices of upcoming JAGCT meetings, visit the JAGCT’s webpage at: http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/es/jaguar_management.shtml. You can also download the new Jaguar Conservation Framework (on the right side of the website under downloads) from this website. To subscribe to the Endangered Species Update listserver go to: http://www.azgfd.gov/signup .

If you see anything that needs to be amended in the Framework, let us know. We will be developing a set of talking points to help everyone with comments. It is critical written comments be submitted by May 19th.

There will also be public meetings in Tucson, Arizona and Lordsburg, New Mexico, simultaneously, to receive comments on the Jaguar Framework - May 19th. Be sure and have your comments in writing if you wait for the meetings. Notice with times and places will be coming via the Endangered Species Update listserver so be sure and sign on to it.

Following the comment period, the Framework will be amended and presented to the full Jaguar Conservation Team in Douglas, Arizona - June 29th. It will be very important to have a representative with a proxy from your county or NRCD at the Douglas meeting.

It is our goal to keep the new jaguar conservation framework/strategy achievable by developing realistic measures that will conserve any jaguars wandering into the area. At the same time, we hope to avoid any enforcement mechanisms in the final Conservation Strategy that might create an economic hardship on the individuals and counties within the priority areas.

If you agree, please lend us a hand. Counties and Conservation Districts may request involvement on the Jaguar Conservation Team by asking for signator status on the Memorandum of Agreement by writing Terry Johnson, Chief of Non-Game Branch, Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2221 W Greenway Rd., Phoenix, AZ., 85023.

Now that voting powers have been restored to this process, we believe we can get a Conservation Agreement/Strategy that will be more realistic and achievable than what has been proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the other non-governmental organizations (ngos).

Although we were able to restrict the conservation area to four counties, we encourage everyone to stay involved in this process until all the issues have been resolved. The organizations that are promoting jaguar conservation in its "historical range" (about 2/3rds of New Mexico and 2/3rds of Arizona) were not pleased by the voting results. Based on prior history they will be hoping we become complacent. They will, however, show up in force at the Douglas meeting and will be sending in their comments by the hundreds.

We're sure you agree, we are all in favor of conserving and protecting jaguars that might wander into the U.S. from Mexico. However, these protection measures must be achievable and developed in a manner that does not create unnecessary restrictions or an economic hardship on the individuals and counties in Arizona and New Mexico.

Again, thanks to everyone that attended the meeting. We look forward to your continued support. Mark May19th and June 29th on your calendars!

Judy Keeler and Sue Krentz

Jaguar Working Group Members