Federal land agency to allow grazing on Sonoran monument, site of tortoise habitat

[UngulateNerd92]

Despite resistance from environmental groups, the Bureau of Land Management will reopen a wide swath of the imperiled Sonoran desert tortoise’s habitat to cattle grazing on the Sonoran Desert National Monument.

The decision comes after a 2016 U.S. District Court ruling required the federal agency to reassess the impact of grazing on six allotments north of Interstate 8. The allotments make up more than half of the 496,000-acre monument.

Much of the land in those allotments has been identified by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as an important habitat for the Sonoran desert tortoise, which is designated by the state of Arizona as a species of "greatest conservation need" and protected by state law.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.azcentral.com/amp/5910894002

 

[birdsandbats]

This may not necessarily be a bad thing. Were bison present in this area historically?

 

[ThylacineAlive]

This may not necessarily be a bad thing. Were bison present in this area historically?

They were not, no.

~Thylo

 

[birdsandbats]

They were not, no.

~Thylo

In that case this isn't good.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Bison sp. did exist in the region during the fossil record (the Pleistocene to be exact), but not recently enough so to justify a re-wilding scheme.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

Bison sp. did exist in the region during the fossil record (the Pleistocene to be exact), but not recently enough so to justify a re-wilding scheme.

Additionally as far as I can tell the Sonoran Desert was never part of the American Bisons historic or prehistoric range. At least not on any of the maps I've seen for them.

~Thylo

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Additionally as far as I can tell the Sonoran Desert was never part of the American Bisons historic or prehistoric range. At least not on any of the maps I've seen for them.

~Thylo

I didn't say Bison bison, I said Bison sp.

I want to show you a relevant diorama from the Arizona State Museum which is on the campus of the University of Arizona.

 

[ThylacineAlive]

I didn't say Bison bison, I said Bison sp.

I want to show you a relevant diorama from the Arizona State Museum which is on the campus of the University of Arizona.

Oh I know, my post was meant to add onto yours by saying whichever Bos/Bison sp. was once present in the Sonoran Desert, it certainly wasn't B. bison as far as I can tell.

~Thylo

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Oh I know, my post was meant to add onto yours by saying whichever Bos/Bison sp. was once present in the Sonoran Desert, it certainly wasn't B. bison as far as I can tell.

~Thylo

You are right. I will say that here is a relevant video on bison in Arizona.