Feds designate 838,000 acres in Az & NM for the jaguar

The U.S. proposed Friday to designate about 1,309 square miles across Southern Arizona and a sliver of New Mexico as prime habitat that is essential for conservation of the endangered jaguar. Among those areas is the site of the proposed Rosemont Mine in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson. That sets up a potential conflict between the big spotted cat's stomping grounds and a project that would employ 400 people and be the fourth-largest copper mine in the United States. The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, whose litigation led directly to the jaguar habitat proposal, said the mine is its biggest concern among all potential human threats to jaguar habitat. Under federal law, destruction or "adverse modification" of critical habitat is illegal. Adverse modification typically means human activity that makes the lands no longer valuable for the endangered species, in this case the jaguar, Humphrey said. The proposed critical habitat occupies mountain ranges in large swaths of rural Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona, along with a much smaller area of southwestern New Mexico, in Hidalgo County...more

And this article says:

The critical habitat proposal triggers a public comment period, as the USFWS seeks specific input, including whether any of the proposed areas should be excluded, as well as information on the projected and reasonably likely impacts of climate change on the jaguar and proposed critical habitat. The agency will also do an economic analysis to determine the cost of the habitat designation, and whether there are any national security concerns associated with the proposal that should be considered.

The USFWS proposal is here and their press release is here.

The acreages are:

● 138,975 acres in the Baboquivari Mountains, Ariz.
● 143,578 acres in the Tumacacori, Atascosa and Pajarito mountains, Ariz.
● 343,033 acres in the Santa Rita, Patagonia and Huachuca mountains and the Canelo Hills, Ariz.
● 105,498 acres in the Whetstone Mountains, including connections to the Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, Ariz.
● 99,559 acres in the Peloncillo Mountains, Ariz. and N.M.
● 7,590 acres in the San Luis Mountains, N.M.