{"id":93438,"date":"2015-10-28T20:17:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-29T02:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=93438"},"modified":"2015-10-28T20:22:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T02:22:00","slug":"from-mexico-to-nm-and-arizona-jaguar-conservation-efforts-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/from-mexico-to-nm-and-arizona-jaguar-conservation-efforts-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"From Mexico to NM and Arizona, jaguar conservation efforts grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_95018\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ekilby\/4376238153\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-95018\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar-771x498.jpg\" alt=\"Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated last year nearly 1,200 square miles of combined critical jaguar habitat in the southern borderlands of Arizona and New Mexico. (photo cc info)\" width=\"771\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar-771x498.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar-336x217.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar-1170x755.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Jaguar.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Eric Kilby \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Last year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated nearly 1,200 square miles of combined critical jaguar habitat in the southern borderlands of Arizona and New Mexico. (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In twists and turns, efforts are mounting to protect the Americas\u2019 biggest wild cat. A Mexican initiative, the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation, unites non-governmental and governmental organizations in a new and \u201cambitious\u201d program aimed at saving an emblematic creature, says Dr. Gerardo Ceballos, Alliance member and coordinator of the National Autonomous University of Mexico\u2019s Ecology Institute.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign\u2019s centerpiece is an Alliance proposal for two long biological corridors dedicated to jaguar conservation. Contouring jaguar habitats of about 10 million acres, the first corridor is envisioned to run between the state of Tamaulipas and the Yucatan Peninsula in eastern Mexico; the second one would extend from Sonora to Chiapas in the western side of the country.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story was produced by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/frontera.nmsu.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">Frontera NorteSur<\/a>,\u00a0a U.S.-Mexico border news service run by the Center for Latin American and Border Studies at New Mexico State University.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe think we will have a strong impact on jaguar conservation,\u201d Ceballos says.<\/p>\n<p>Accordingly, the Mexican Senate is reviewing an Alliance proposal to classify the biological corridors as a type of natural protected area, the biologist said.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the national university\u2019s Ecology Institute, members of the Alliance include the World Wildlife Fund-Telcel and the federal government\u2019s National Commission of Protected Areas.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ceballos, Mexico\u2019s jaguar population plunged from an estimated 20,000 animals at the beginning of the 20th century to 4,000 calculated during a 2009-2011 census. An updated Mexican jaguar census is planned for 2016 while a hemispheric one is in the works for 2017, he says.<\/p>\n<p>Ceballos adds that a Latin American symposium devoted to the creature of legend and lore will held in Mexico City next May.<\/p>\n<h3>Protecting larger ecosystems<\/h3>\n<p>Located in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun, the private El Eden Ecology Reserve supports the Alliance\u2019s mission.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Marco Antonio Lazcano Barrero, general director of the approximately 6,600 acre nature reserve, stressed that the Yucatan, where nearly half of Mexico\u2019s jaguar population is found, is crucial for preserving an endangered species.<\/p>\n<p>Outstanding threats to Quintana Roo\u2019s jaguars include poaching, habitat loss from touristic and urban development, rampant deforestation and climate change, Lazcano says.<\/p>\n<p>Underscoring the importance of involving rural dwellers in jaguar preservation, Lazcano stresses that locals have been extremely helpful in protecting El Eden\u2019s jaguars from poachers. \u201cThis has cut (poaching) down to almost zero,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>For Lazcano, protecting jaguars means protecting larger ecosystems. In a short paper, he terms the predatory animal a \u201ckeystone\u201d or a \u201cflag\u201d species, positing that saving the Yucatan jaguar will translate into the survival of forests, wetlands, caves and underground river systems, which are \u201cessential for the maintenance of the northernmost portion of the second largest barrier reef in the world\u201d &#8212; a reference to the beautiful coral reef shelf that extends from near Cancun south to Honduras in the western Caribbean.<\/p>\n<p>According to Lazcano, protecting the land of the jaguar in the Yucatan benefits the habitat of migratory birds from Canada, the U.S. and northern Mexico. Citing studies, he calculates that more than 215 species of migratory birds can be found in the Yucatan at one time or another.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Lazcano traveled to Santa Fe, N.M., where he delivered his message in a public talk.<\/p>\n<h3>North of the border<\/h3>\n<p>Given that jaguars cross borders, protecting the big cats in Mexico involves the United States and Central America, where the Alliance would like to connect land corridors that are viewed by experts as essential for the species&#8217; genetic health.<\/p>\n<p>Once native to the United States, jaguars were the target of an official federal government extermination campaign and widely considered extinct in this country; the last documented female jaguar in the United States was killed in Arizona in 1963. However, several male animals have been spotted and\/or photographed in the southern border areas of Arizona and New Mexico since 1996. Balam, the sacred symbol of the Mayas, was back in its northern haunts.<\/p>\n<p>Experts trace the contemporary presence of jaguars in the U.S. Southwest to the wanderings of males from across the border in the Mexican state of Sonora, though the presence of females, which would imply the reestablishment of a breeding population, cannot be discounted.<\/p>\n<p>Oscar Moctezuma, founder and director of Naturalia, a Mexican non-governmental organization that operates a large jaguar reserve in Sonora, estimates that 150 jaguars live in the northern state.<\/p>\n<p>Protecting the few jaguars that may be in the United States has proven a thorny issue.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, as a result of successful litigation pursued by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), designated last year nearly <a href=\"http:\/\/ens-newswire.com\/2014\/03\/05\/u-s-designates-critical-habitat-for-endangered-jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\">1,200 square miles<\/a> of combined critical jaguar habitat in the southern borderlands of Arizona and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>The court victory notwithstanding, the Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s Michael Robinson contends that the critical habitat designation didn\u2019t go far enough, and should have included more areas near the border as well as farther into the interior.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big area that should have been protected &#8212; and wasn\u2019t &#8212; was the Gila area of New Mexico, where I live, and the Mogollon Rim of Arizona,\u201d Robinson says.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Spangle, Arizona field supervisor for the USFWS, says his agency based its geographic designation on evidence of recent jaguar presence, not \u201crumors,\u201d in identifying the area south of Interstate 10 as the suitable zone for critical habitat. The USFWS is developing a final jaguar recovery plan, which will be published in the Federal Register for public comment.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Humphrey, public affairs specialist for the USFWS in Arizona, adds that the agency does not have a \u201csolid target date\u201d yet for the publication of the plan, but anticipates the spring of 2016.<\/p>\n<h3>In NM, ranchers push back<\/h3>\n<p>Differences between the USFWS and Robinson\u2019s organization aside, the Center for Biological Diversity along with Defenders of Wildlife have intervened on the side of the federal government in a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/588634\/news\/lawsuit-challenges-designation-of-habitat-for-jaguar.html\" target=\"_blank\">pending New Mexico court case<\/a> challenging the critical habitat designation.<\/p>\n<p>Last May, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, New Mexico Cattle Growers\u2019 Association and the New Mexico Federal Lands Council filed suit in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque seeking to overturn the USFWS\u2019 critical jaguar habitat designation of 170 square miles in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>According to plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys, tens of thousands of acres have been \u201cillegally\u201d impacted for a \u201cphantom\u201d animal that has not been sighted in the specific area in question for years.<\/p>\n<p>The suit asserts the USFWS violated the Endangered Species Act when the jaguar was listed in 1972, because the area in dispute was not occupied by the animal at the time and is \u201cnot essential for jaguar conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although conceding that the there have been some sightings of jaguars in southern Arizona and New Mexico\u2019s Hidalgo County since 1972, the lawsuit is based on the premise that the jaguar is mainly a tropical animal with a marginal presence in the U.S. Southwest at best.<\/p>\n<p>The New Mexico plaintiffs contend that not only would their livelihoods and economic pursuits be disturbed by the critical habitat designation, but that fire control in area forests could be impacted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe determination that designated critical habitat in New Mexico is essential for species conservation is arbitrary and capricious,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p>But according to jaguar conservation advocate Robinson, evidence exists that jaguars actually evolved in the upper parts of North America and then spread south to their present range. Some 400 years ago, they even roamed the future continental U.S. between the modern states of California and North Carolina, he says.<\/p>\n<p>In a declaration filed in the New Mexico lawsuit, the Defenders of Wildlife\u2019s Craig Miller argues that the small jaguar population in northern Sonora must expand to Arizona and New Mexico to remain viable.<\/p>\n<p>So far, no litigation challenging the larger Arizona jaguar critical habitat zone has surfaced.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;On a continental scale&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>While not commenting directly on the New Mexico lawsuit, Spangle says the critical habitat designation does not affect hunting or grazing but forces federal agencies that might have activities within the zone to first consult with the USFWS on jaguar concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Naturalia\u2019s Oscar Moctezuma strongly backs international cooperation as critical for the jaguar\u2019s survival, saying his organization maintains relationships with Defenders of Wildlife and like-minded U.S. organizations.<\/p>\n<p>Though few in number, Sonora\u2019s jaguars enjoy certain advantages over their southern counterparts, benefiting from isolated ranges and lower human population densities, Moctezuma says.<\/p>\n<p>To curb poaching, Naturalia has implemented a program of installing cameras in jaguar habitat and paying ranchers approximately $300 for each picture snapped of a jaguar, in return for agreements that the predators won\u2019t be killed.<\/p>\n<p>Saving jaguars, he insists, is not only important on its own merits, but also crucial for preserving the complexity and richness of \u201cbiodiversity in the country.\u201d Indeed, the charisma &#8212; and even sexiness &#8212; of jaguars captures the public\u2019s imagination and focuses attention on larger environmental questions, he affirms.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the myriad challenges, Moctezuma and other jaguar defenders say they are firmly committed to the big and elusive cat. \u201cThis is a long and complex arena that will take time, but we are in it,\u201d the conservationist said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s heartening that efforts are being made on a continental scale,\u201d Robinson adds. \u201cWe need to look at how this original (Southwestern) range of the jaguar can contribute to the continental efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In twists and turns, efforts are mounting to protect the Americas\u2019 biggest wild cat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2732,"featured_media":95018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1190,147,236],"class_list":["post-93438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-agriculture","tag-environment","tag-mexico"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2732"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}