The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reviewed a formal petition to exclude lands around the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine from the jaguar critical habitat designation in Arizona, finding that the petition did not provide substantial scientific information indicating that the exclusion is warranted.
Threats to international jaguar populations have increased in recent years, including unprecedented fires in important jaguar habitat, an increase in the black-market trade and hunting of jaguars, and the diminishment of jaguar potential prey.
In November 2020, Rosemont Copper Company petitioned the Service to remove 50,000 acres of designated critical habitat in Arizona in the northern Santa Rita Mountains, stating this area provides limited conservation benefits, and its removal would have little impact on the remaining critical habitat.
Service biologists determined the petition did not provide substantial scientific information that areas petitioned to be removed from critical habitat do not contain the features that are essential to the conservation of the jaguar or that these features do not require special management considerations or protection. Service biologists also found that the petition did not present information indicating why the petitioned areas are not essential for conservation of jaguars.
Read the full 90-day finding here: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/A040
The Service has established strong working relationships with state and local partners, conservation groups and the Mexican government in support of jaguar recovery.
