Western Red Bat – Arizona Species of Greatest Conservation Need; and
Lesser Long‐nosed Bat – previously delisted from ESA and currently a Species of
Greatest Conservation Need in Arizona.
In addition, the USFWS has established critical habitat within the JLUS Project Area as
depicted on Figure 5‐1. The three species that have critical habitat identified are the
Acuña Cactus, Southwestern Willow Flycatcher and the Western Yellow‐Billed Cuckoo.
None of the critical habitat is located on FMR, SBAH, Picacho Peak Stagefield or
Rittenhouse Training Site.
Common Black Hawk
Source: The Cornell Lab of
Ornithology
Sonoran Desert Tortoise
Source: The Pinal County Wildlife
Connectivity Assessment: Report
on Stakeholder Input, April 2013
Acuña Cactus – three areas of critical habitat located east and southeast of FMR.
Southwestern Willow Flycatcher – critical habitat along the Gila River east of
FMR.
Western Yellow‐billed Cuckoo – two areas of critical habitat, one along the Gila
River east of FMR and the second area southwest of FMR.
The greatest threat to the Common Black Hawk is the alteration and elimination of
riparian habitat through clearing, water diversion, diking and damming, and lowering of
the water table by underground pumping. Its range is across the southwestern United
States, including Arizona, southwest New Mexico, western Texas, and southern Utah.
Sonoran Desert Tortoise habitat spans from south and east of the Colorado River in
Arizona into Sonora, Mexico. The status of wild, non‐urban populations is not
well‐documented, but there is minimal evidence of range‐wide declines. However,
populations in the urbanized Tucson and Phoenix areas have declined. Major, range‐wide
threats to this species are primarily due to habitat fragmentation, loss, and degradation.
Other significant causes include impacts from wildfires associated with non‐native
invasive grasses, illegal tortoise collection, and the genetic contamination of wild
populations due to breeding with captive tortoises that have been released in the wild.
On FMR, the INRMP indicates the most frequent cause of tortoise mortality is falls and, to
a lesser extent, mountain lion predation.
5-10
Compatibility Assessment