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The musical Instrument Museum has a collection of instruments from all over the world

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History of Phoenix AZ By Ed Dobbins

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History of Phoenix Arizona, The Early Years in Paradise Valley 1890 to 1950

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Link to the Desert Botanical garden, home to a collection of the local greenery and vegetation

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"I've been a member for almost 7 years it's that good. I love taking visitors there and it keeps evolving. The art exhibits that change throughout the gardens are always fun and beautiful. Perfect place to get away while in the city and totally worth visiting if you're from out of town!"
- William M., Member from Phoenix, AZ

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"I've been a member for almost 7 years it's that good. I love taking visitors there and it keeps evolving. The art exhibits that change throughout the gardens are always fun and beautiful. Perfect place to get away while in the city and totally worth visiting if you're from out of town!"

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The Salt river runs through phoenix and is a tributary of the Gila River to the west of Phoenix

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The Salt River ( Spanish: , O'odham [Pima]: , Yavapai: or , Maricopa language: Va Shly'ay) is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin covers about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km ²). The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the river's course over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.

According to the Geographic Names Information System, the Salt River has also been known as:

Assumption

Black River

Blau Fluss

Blue River

Rio Asuncion

Rio Azulrio de Lasrio

Rio de la Asuncion

Rio de las Balsas

River of the Rafts

Salada

Salinas

Rio Salado

The Salt River as seen in Salt River Canyon, 2004

The Salt River is formed by the confluence of the White River and the Black River in the White Mountains of eastern Gila County. The White and Black rivers, and other tributaries of the upper Salt River, drain the region between the Mogollon Rim in the north and the Natanes Mountains and Natanes Plateau to the east and south. Tributaries of the Salt River also drain the Sierra Ancha and Mazatzal Mountains. The White and Black rivers drain the White Mountains in the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Together the two rivers drain an area of about 1,900 square miles (4,900 km ²). The Salt River, along with the Black River, forms the boundary between the Fort Apache Indian Reservation to the north and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation to the south.

The Salt River is fed by numerous perennial streams that start as springs and seeps along the Mogollon Rim and in the White Mountains. The Salt River is perennial from its tributary headwaters to Granite Reef Diversion Dam near Mesa.

From the Black and White confluence, the Salt River flows generally west and southwest. It is joined by Carrizo Creek, a 25-mile (40 km) perennial stream, and then flows through the Salt River Canyon. Cibecue Creek, a 36-mile (58 km) perennial stream, joins the river in the canyon, flowing from the north through the Fort Apache Reservation. Between Carrizo and Cibecue creeks, the Salt River becomes the boundary between the Tonto National Forest on the south and the Fort Apache Reservation on the north. Another perennial stream joins from the north, 46-mile (74 km) long Canyon Creek, followed by Cherry Creek. Just downstream from the Salt's confluence with Medicine Creek, a portion of the Tonto National Forest is designated the Salt River Canyon Wilderness. The Salt River forms the northern and western boundary of the wilderness for several miles, after which the national forest and wilderness occupy both sides of the river.

Salt River alongside State Route 77, September 2006

Rio Salado south of Stewart Mountain Dam

Continuing its westward course, the Salt River is joined by Pinal Creek from the south, just before leaving the Salt River Canyon Wilderness. The river continues to flow through the Tonto National Forest until leaving the mountains near Mesa. Below the Pinal Creek confluence, the Salt River enters Theodore Roosevelt Lake, the first of four reservoirs on the river. Tonto Creek joins the Salt River in Theodore Roosevelt Lake. Below Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the Salt River passes through the canyon between the Mazatzal Mountains and the Superstition Mountains and is impounded by Horse Mesa Dam (forming Apache Lake) then Mormon Flat Dam (forming Canyon Lake) then Stewart Mountain Dam (forming Saguaro Lake). These four reservoirs are part of the Salt River Project. The water is used by the Phoenix metropolitan area for municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes. The storage capacity of the reservoirs is 2,910,200 acre-feet (3.5897×10 ⁹ m ³) for Roosevelt, 245,100 acre-feet (302,300,000 m ³) for Apache, 57,900 acre-feet (71,400,000 m ³) for Canyon, and 69,800 acre-feet (86,100,000 m ³) for Saguaro.

Salt River passing below the Central Avenue Bridge in southern Phoenix after winter rains, March 2010

As the Salt River passes through its reservoirs, it flows by the Four Peaks Wilderness, near the Four Peaks. A few miles downstream of Stewart Mountain Dam, the last of the four Salt River Project dams, the Verde River joins the Salt from the north. Fountain Hills is located a few miles to the northwest. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is located near the Verde-Salt confluence. The Tonto National Forest ends a couple miles below the Verde River confluence, and the Salt River enters the eastern edge of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. Less than mile (0.80 km) from the national forest boundary, the Granite Reef Diversion Dam diverts all remaining water in the Salt River into the Arizona Canal and Southern Canal, which deliver drinking and irrigation water to much of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The dam and canals are part of the Salt River Project.

Below the diversion dam, the bed of the Salt River is dry, except following rain or upstream runoff. The USGS stream gage at 51st Avenue, Phoenix, records no flow at all on many days-in 2009, for example, there was no flow for most of the year, except during parts of February and March when the river's discharge reached an average of 87 cubic feet per second (2.5 m ³/s). The diversion capacity at Granite Reef Diversion Dam is 3,600 cubic feet per second (100 m ³/s), with 2,000 cubic feet per second (57 m ³/s) for the Arizona Canal, and 1,600 cubic feet per second (45 m ³/s) for the Southern Canal.

Below Granite Reef Dam, the Salt River leaves the mountains and flows past the cities of Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale, then south of downtown Phoenix, where it passes north of South Mountain Park. With the exception of Tempe Town Lake, the riverbed winding through the cities is usually dry, except when heavy rains upstream force Stewart Mountain Dam to release more water than can be diverted at Granite Reef Dam. The Salt River joins the Gila on the southwestern edge of Phoenix, approximately 15 miles (24 km) from the center of the city. Monument Hill overlooks the confluence of the two rivers and is the site of the Initial Survey point for Arizona, the Gila and Salt River Meridian.

River modifications

The Salt River formerly flowed through its entire course year-round. However, the free-flowing river would frequently flood, including a massive flood in 1891. This flood, as well as others, led to the construction of several dams, beginning with the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, have caused the river to become intermittent in many parts.

Despite the dry river bed, or arroyo, dangerous flash floods occasionally occur, especially during monsoon storms in late July and early August. Flood waters can wash out roads. Bridges have been damaged, notably in 1980, 1993, and 2005. The natural flow of the Salt is 2,570 cubic feet per second (73 m ³/s) at its mouth.[citation needed ] However, except after rainfall, the Salt is dry or a small stream below Granite Reef Dam. The river was formerly navigable throughout its course by small craft. The river is still navigable in the majority of the area where it still carries water. [citation needed ]

The river was used for irrigation by the pre-Columbian Hohokam culture, by later Native Americans, and by early Euro-American settlers in the 19th century. It currently provides a major source of irrigation and drinking water for Phoenix and surrounding communities through the Salt River Project. The river's water is distributed over more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of irrigation canals, used primarily for the growing of cotton, alfalfa, fruit, and vegetables.

Wild horses grazing on the banks of the Rio Salado

North American beavers ( Castor canadensis) historically flourished on the river. In an historical account, George C. Yount, a fur trapper with the Pattie expedition, wrote on 1 February 1863, "...we began to ascend the Black River [Salt River]... We found it to abound with beavers... We followed up this stream to where it forks in the mountains; that is to say, about 80 miles from its mouth."

2022 fish kill in three lakes has been caused by golden algae.

There are turbidity problems along many stream reaches in Salt River's watershed; these are related to rangeland management, recreation, mining, sand and gravel operations, and other sources. High levels of fecal coliform bacteria and ammonia have been reported for Carrizo Creek and the White River.

"Map of Colonel Sanford's Expedition to Sombrero Butte" in September 1869 showing Río Saludo (NAID 103396422)

In ancient times, the river was home to the Salado culture and the Hohokam culture. The Akimel O'odham, also known as the Pima people, lived along the Salt River and dug canals, using irrigation to provide water to their villages and farms in the arid environment. The river was known to the authorities of New Spain as the Río Salado. The United States government recognized the territory of the Pima people by way of executive order signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes. A subsequent executive order also signed by President Hayes reduced the size of the Salt River portion of the reserve from approximately 680,000 acres to 46,627 acres. Today the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community live alongside the bank of the Salt River maintaining their traditions and way of life from before European colonization.

Recreation on the Rio Salado

Boating facilities

Cherry Creek to Roosevelt Lake: Paved, gravel and trail access, live bait fish (restrictions in effect), no motors allowed, primitive parking area, camping allowed, area mostly inaccessible.

Below Saguaro Lake: Paved and dirt access, live bait fish, swimming, no motors allowed, parking area, tables, restrooms, camping allowed. Several camp and picnic areas, drained in winter.

The above facilities are maintained by the Tonto National Forest.

Tempe Boat Rentals at Tempe Town Lake: Small passenger boats including kayaks, pedal boats, electric powered pontoons and fishing boats. This is an independent contractor and not managed by the City of Tempe.

Fish species

Cherry Creek to Roosevelt Lake (15 fishable miles)

largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sunfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, carp

Below Saguaro Lake (11 fishable miles)

rainbow trout, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, yellow bass, crappie, sunfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish, blue catfish, yellow perch, walleye, tilapia, black crappie, carp, bullfrogs, desert sucker, sturgeon

Notes

Further reading

Arizona Fishin' Holes: The Arizona Game and Fish Department's Guide to Popular Fishing Waters and Facilities in Arizona. Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Information and Education Division. 2007.

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The Salt River ( Spanish: , O'odham [Pima]: , Yavapai: or , Maricopa language: Va Shly'ay) is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long.

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Since 25% of the land in the state of Arizona is Native American, it makes sense that Phoenix has the oldest American Indian Non-Profit in the nation

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The Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest American Indian non-profit organization of its kind in the United States. The Center was formed in 1947 as an outgrowth of Native people moving to urban Phoenix not only to sell their crafts and goods but as a result of U.S. Government public policy.

The Federal Government's Indian Relocation Act (PL 959) created a mass migration of American Indians from rural, reservation settings to large scale cities across the United States during the 1950-1960s. The Act was an attempt to assimilate American Indians into the prevailing non-Indian city life culture and remove their practice of Native culture and traditions through the break-up of reservation systems. As a result, several Indian Centers were formed in the major "relocation" cities across the country. These Centers were crucial in providing a place for American Indians to connect and socialize with other Indians and to receive various necessary services as they were removed to live city-life. Phoenix was designated as one of the original "relocation cities."

Today, well over 125,000 American Indians reside off-reservation in Maricopa County, ranked second by county with largest number of American Indians (U.S., Census Bureau's 2006-2008 American Community Survey (ACS).

The Phoenix Indian Center has evolved over its years of existence, adding several programs and services for job readiness/employment, prevention, youth, cultural revitalization, and community engagement. Each year the Center reviews the needs for our ever growing American Indian population in the metropolitan Phoenix area and seeks funding to offer more services to address these needs. As the Center evolves, one thing remains true - we provide a safe, supportive environment for American Indian people looking for opportunity in this dynamic but unfamiliar and often challenging urban setting.

Quick facts about us:

The Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest, continuing American Indian Center in the United States, operating since 1947.

The Center was founded by several individuals, under the leadership of Mr. Leon Grant, an Omaha Tribal member.

The City of Phoenix, upon the urging of community members, provided a small office building for the Phoenix Indian Center to begin providing assistance to urban American Indian people.

Services were provided by volunteers in the early days

Over the years, we estimate that the Center has assisted nearly every urban American Indian residing in metropolitan Phoenix, either directly or indirectly.

The Center gladly collaborates with other Indian and non-Indian agencies to improve the lifestyle of urban American Indians - we honor these relationships.

The Center serves well over 7,000 individuals annually through direct services; related outreach touches the lives of more than 20,000 each year.

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The Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest American Indian non-profit organization of its kind in the United States. The Center was formed in 1947 as an outgrowth of Native people moving to urban Phoenix not only to sell their crafts and goods but as a result of U.S. Government public policy.

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Social  Movements: Sonoran Desert Conservation Program

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Social  Movements: Sonoran Desert Conservation Program

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Phoenix is the largest city in the Sonoran Desert, which means it has a big obligation to contribute to the program

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The award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan (SDCP) is Pima County's plan for balancing the conservation and protection of our cultural and natural resource heritage with our efforts to maintain an economically vigorous and fiscally responsible community. The SDCP considered the following elements: critical habitats and biological corridors, riparian areas, mountain parks, historical and cultural preservation, and ranch conservation. All five elements, along with fiscal analysis, were critical in forming a viable land management plan for Pima County.

The SDCP identified the types of development that improved the tax base, and the relationship of these with the sewer service area. Build-out analyses showed that not all land would be needed for urban development and that certain types of development would be costly to the tax base as well as to various community values that were identified through over 600 public meetings. Over 200 technical reports documented these values, using the combined talents of over 150 contributing scientists.

In 2001, the Pima County Board of Supervisors updated the Pima County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, integrating the land-use policies and principles of conservation developed in the SDCP, including the Conservation Lands System (CLS). The CLS identifies lands necessary to achieve SDCP biological goals, while delineating areas suitable for development. The CLS covers approximately 2 million acres in eastern Pima County. The CLS was renamed the Maeveen Marie Behan Conservation Lands System in 2009 in memory of Dr. Behan's work on the SDCP and development of the CLS.

Since 2001, the SDCP has guided where public money is spent to conserve important natural areas, providing the basis for how cultural and historic resources are protected, and serving to help ensure that our western lifestyle, heritage, and traditions continues. The SDCP set the stage for later efforts such as the City-County Water Study, and re-investment in the County's sewage treatment facilities, and created a new standard for public transparency and involvement. The Multi Species Conservation Plan (MSCP) is the part of the SDCP that deals with compliance with the Endangered Species Act.

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The award-winning Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan is Pima County's plan for balancing the conservation and protection of our cultural and natural resource heritage with our efforts to maintain an economically vigorous and fiscally responsible community.

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Healthy Safety and State: Forced Federal Boarding Schools for Native Americans

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Healthy Safety and State: Forced Federal Boarding Schools for Native Americans

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Arizona was home to over 10% of the federal boarding schools that tried to assimilate native children. To this day the scars are still seen.

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For the first time in history, the Department of Interior investigated the federal Indian boarding school system across the United States, identifying more than 400 schools and over 50 burial sites.

Arizona was home to 47 of those schools, which were attended by Indigenous children who were taken away from their families and attempted to assimilate them through education - and, often, physical punishment.

The legacy of the federal Indian boarding school system is not new to Indigenous people. For centuries, Indigenous people across the county have experienced the loss of their culture, traditions, language and land.

Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland said nowhere is that clearer than in the legacy of federal Indian boarding schools. Many of the Indigenous children who were taken to boarding school never made it back home, she said, and each of those children is a missing family member and a source of "intergenerational trauma."

"I come from ancestors who endured the horrors of the federal boarding schools, carried out by the department that I now lead," Haaland said.

The department released a report on Wednesday that found from 1819 to 1969, the federal Indian boarding school system consisted of 408 federal schools across 37 states, including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii. The investigation identified marked and unmarked burial sites at 53 different schools.

This investigation is a result of Haaland's June 2021 secretarial memo which directed the Department of Interior to prepare a report detailing the historical records relating to federal Indian boarding schools as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.

"The consequences of federal Indian boarding school policies - including the intergenerational trauma caused by the family separation and cultural eradication inflicted upon generations of children as young as 4 years old - are heartbreaking and undeniable," Haaland said. "We continue to see the evidence of this attempt to forcibly assimilate Indigenous people in the disparities that communities face."

The goals of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative include: Identifying boarding school facilities and sites; identifying the names and tribal identities of Indigenous children who were placed in boarding schools; identifying locations of marked and unmarked burial sites of remains of Indigenous children; and incorporating tribal and individual viewpoints, including those of descendants, on the experiences in, and impacts of, the Indian boarding school system.

"This report presents the opportunity for us to reorient federal policies to support the revitalization of tribal languages and cultural practices to counteract nearly two centuries of federal policies aimed at their destruction," said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland.

Newland and his team led the investigation. He said the investigation has been an exhausting and emotional effort for the team because they had to confront this horror daily to bring this information to the public.

"This has left lasting scars for all Indigenous people," he said. "There is not a single American Indian, Alaskan Native, or Native Hawaiian in this country whose life hasn't been affected by the schools."

Newland said many of the Indigenous kids that entered the boarding school often died far from their homes and families.

The investigation identified 53 burial sites, and the department will not make the location of the site's public due to the "very real threat" of grave robbing, vandalism, and desecration, Newland said.

"As the investigation continues, the Department expects the number of identified burial sites to increase," the report states.

Arizona had the second-highest number of boarding schools at 47. Oklahoma had the most, with 76, while New Mexico's 43 were third-most.

The investigation reported that 50% of federal Indian boarding schools may have received support from a religious institution or organization, including funding, infrastructure and personnel.

The report indicated that the earliest boarding school to open was in 1807, and the latest was in 1969. Each boarding school identified varied, according to the department, but there were several common systematic features found during the investigation.

For a school to qualify as a federal Indian boarding school in the report, the institution had to meet four criteria: It must have provided on-site housing or overnight lodging, provided formal academic or vocational training and instruction, received federal funding or other support, and been in operation before 1969.

"The scope of our charge here is to better understand the federal government's involvement in establishing this policy, operating this policy, and carrying out this policy through the schools," Newland said. "There is a lot more work that needs to be done to simply tell the truth."

"This report lays the groundwork for the continued research of the department into the intergenerational trauma of federal Indian boarding schools," Haaland said.

The investigation found that the boarding school system deployed systematic militarized and identity-alteration methodologies in an attempt to assimilate Indigenous children through education.

The methods of assimilation included renaming Indigenous children from their traditional names to English names; cutting the hair of Indigenous children; discouraging or preventing the use of their traditional Indigenous languages, religions, and cultural practices; and organizing Indigenous children into units to perform military drills.

The schools mostly used manual labor as part of the school curricula for Indigenous children, some of the labor included brick-making, cooking, agriculture production, livestock raising and working on the railroad.

Rules within the boarding schools were often enforced through punishment, according to the report. This included corporal punishment such as solitary confinement, flogging, withholding food, whipping, slapping and cuffing.

"The Federal Indian boarding school system at times makes older Indian children punish younger Indian children," the report states.

The report was developed in partnership with the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the ongoing trauma created by the U.S. Indian Boarding School policy.

"This is a historic moment as it reaffirms the stories, we all grew up with, the truth of our people, and the often-immense torture our elders and ancestors went through as children at the hands of the federal government and the religious institutions," said Deborah Parker, chief executive officer of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

"The impact of boarding schools is still with us today," she added.

Indigenous children during the boarding school era all had names, families, languages, regalia, traditions and prayers before boarding schools violently took them away, Parker said.

"After generations, we still do not know how many children attended, how many children died, or how many children were permanently scarred for life because of these federal institutions," she said.

"Our children deserve to be found. Our children deserve to be brought home," Parker said. "We are here for their justice and we will not stop advocating until the United States fully accounts for the genocide committed against Native children."

As part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative and in response to recommendations from the report, Haaland announced the launch of "The Road to Healing" tour.

Haaland will conduct a year-long tour and will travel across the country to allow survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system the opportunity to share their stories, help connect communities with trauma-informed support, and facilitate the collection of a permanent oral history.

"The Department's work thus far shows that an all-of-government approach is necessary to strengthen and rebuild the bonds within Native communities that federal Indian boarding school policies set out to break," she said.

It will be up to survivors if they want to engage with the department.

"I want to embrace people and I want to do it with love in my heart so that people know and understand that we are there for them," Haaland said. "We'll just see who would like to come forward and know that their voices will be heard and respected."

No date was given for the start of the tour.

"It is my priority to not only give voice to the survivors and descendants of federal Indian boarding school policies but also to address the lasting legacies of these policies so Indigenous peoples can continue to grow and heal," Haaland said

"I am here because my ancestors persevered," she said. "The work we will do with the federal Indian boarding schools will have a transformational impact on the generations to follow."

The report released by the Department is Volume 1, and it includes recommendations from Newland on the next steps in the initiative. This includes producing a list of marked and unmarked burial sites at federal Indian boarding schools as well as the total amount of federal funding used to support the boarding school system.

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Historic report on Federal Indian Boarding Schools finds 47 in Arizona, 400 nationwide

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For the first time in history, the Department of Interior investigated the federal Indian boarding school system across the United States, identifying more than 400 schools and over 50 burial sites.

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On a federal level, the progress to protect the desert tortoise is too slow. Desert wildlife groups will often speak out about slow progress

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For immediate release

May 22, 2024

Contacts:

Cyndi Tuell, Western Watersheds Project, 520-272-2454, cyndi@westernwatersheds.org

Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, csmith@wildearthguardians.org

Maggie Fusari, Tucson Herpetological Society, tucsonherps@gmail.com, and Desert Tortoise Council, info@deserttortoise.org

Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-324-8011, bishop@westernlaw.org

Wildlife Groups initiate legal action: Feds too slow to protect Sonoran desert tortoise Species threatened by climate change, livestock grazing, drought, invasive species, development
TUCSON, Ariz.-Today, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, and the Desert Tortoise Council and Tucson Herpetological Society, represented by the Western Environmental Law Center, are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to reconsider its 2022 decision to deny protective status to the tortoise in the groups' 60-day notice of intent to sue.

The groups are asking the Service to take another look at the imperiled status of the tortoise, including the most recent and best available science on the threats to the species now and into the foreseeable future. According to the groups, the population and habitat models the Service used to inform its 2022 decision were flawed and the agency failed to adequately consider the impacts of climate change, habitat loss from renewable energy development and off-road vehicle use, and damage to habitat caused by livestock grazing.
"The Sonoran desert tortoise is an icon of Arizona that the public knows and loves," said Cyndi Tuell, Arizona and New Mexico director for Western Watersheds Project. "We worry that the Fish and Wildlife Service has used flawed models to assure the public that the population is going to be fine, when in fact this slowly reproducing animal may be on the brink of extinction and by the time the Service figures that out, it will be too late."
The Sonoran desert tortoise is a distinct species of desert tortoise, separate from the Mojave desert tortoise. Sonoran desert tortoises are found in desert scrub habitats in Arizona and Mexico, east and south of the Colorado River. In 2010, in response to a petition from the groups to list the species under the ESA, the Service found it "warranted" for listing but placed it on the candidate list, without protections, due to "higher priorities."

In 2015, the Service reversed its decision and determined the species "not warranted" for listing based mainly on a candidate conservation agreement that does not include binding commitments from the parties involved to take conservation actions, or any regulatory requirements to conserve the tortoise. In 2019, WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project sued the Fish and Wildlife Service because the agency failed to consider science on climate change and livestock grazing, among other factors. The Service settled that lawsuit and agreed to reconsider whether the tortoise deserved ESA protection, and in 2022, the Service used flawed population and habitat models to determine the species is not at risk.

"The risk of the Sonoran desert tortoise going extinct has only increased since 2010 when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service first considered listing the species," said Chris Smith, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. "The agency's change of heart in 2015 and its doubling down on that decision in 2022 ignored the science and places this iconic species in an incredibly perilous position."

"The Endangered Species Act is one of the most important conservation laws in the United States and can be a valuable tool to stem the extinction crisis, but only if the Fish and Wildlife Service is willing to base its decisions on a broader interpretation of the risks a species faces," said Dr. Margaret Fusari with the Desert Tortoise Council and Tucson Herpetological Society. "When the decision states but then ignores the admitted risks from climate change and instead bases the decision on models that are speculative due to a lack of field data-this by the direct admission of the authors-they are leaving this animal on the fast track to extinction."

"The agency's decision was flawed from the start because it was based on a purely speculative and overly optimistic population estimate," said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center representing the groups. "The agency also severely downplayed likely future effects to the tortoise from increased drought frequency and severity."

The group's letter asks the Fish and Wildlife Service to make another attempt to comply with the ESA. If the agency fails to do that, the groups will consider whether to bring the issue before a federal judge.

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WildEarth Guardians ( www.wildearthguardians.org) is a conservation non-profit whose mission is to protect and restore the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. Guardians has offices in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington, and over 231,000 members and supporters worldwide.

The mission of Western Watersheds Project ( www.westernwatersheds.org) is to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife through education, public policy initiatives, and legal advocacy.

The Desert Tortoise Council ( deserttortoise.org) was established in 1975 to promote conservation of the desert tortoise in the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico.

The Tucson Herpetological Society ( tucsonherpsociety.org) was established in 1988 and is dedicated to conservation, education, and research concerning the amphibians and reptiles of Arizona and Mexico. The Western Environmental Law Center ( westernlaw.org) uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western U.S. lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. We envision a western U.S. abundant with protected and interconnected ecosystems, powered by renewable energy, and cared for by communities brought together in an ecology of kinship.

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Wildlife Groups initiate legal action: Feds too slow to protect Sonoran desert tortoise - Western Watersheds Project

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For immediate release May 22, 2024 Contacts: Cyndi Tuell, Western Watersheds Project, 520-272-2454, cyndi@westernwatersheds.org Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, csmith@wildearthguardians.org Maggie Fusari, Tucson Herpetological Society, tucsonherps@gmail.com, and Desert Tortoise Council, info@deserttortoise.org Matthew Bishop, Western Environmental Law Center, 406-324-8011, bishop@westernlaw.org Wildlife Groups initiate legal action: Feds too slow to protect Sonoran desert tortoise Species threatened by climate change, livestock grazing, [...]