The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated about 764,207 acres of critical habitat for jaguars.
This final ruling is similar to original proposal except for the "exclusion of Tohono O'odham Nation lands (78,067 acres) as a result of the Tribe's efforts-working in partnership with the Service-to conserve jaguar and other listed species' habitat on the Nation's sovereign land. Exemption of Fort Huachuca lands (15,867 acres) due to the conservation benefits to the jaguar provided in Fort Huachuca's approved Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service news release reported.
On July 1 2013 the Service released a revised proposal that set aside 858,137 acres of critical habitat for the jaguars. The new report took an updated habitat model into account that worked to accurately outline essential jaguar territory in northern Mexico and the southern U.S.
The original plan made in 2012 was to devote 838,232 acres of land to the jaguars. Jaguar habitats in South America and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands differ greatly. In South America jaguars gravitate towards "lowland wet communities" while jaguars from northwestern Mexico and southwestern United States prefer "thornscrub, desertscrub, lowland desert, mesquite grassland, Madrean oak woodland and pine-oak woodland communities," the news release reported.
Preservation of land in this region is critical to the jaguars' survival.
"Critical habitat is a term defined in the ESA and identifies geographic areas containing features essential to the conservation of a threatened or endangered species and that may require special management considerations or protection. The designation of critical habitat does not affect land ownership or establish a refuge, and has no impact on private landowners taking actions on their land that do not require federal funding or permits," the news release reported.
View the final rule on jaguar territory here.
