29th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, February 20-23, 2004
Abstracts

Conservation and Management of Sonoran Desert Turtles

J. Daren Riedle, Roy C. Averill-Murray, and Clayton L. Lutz
Arizona Game and Fish Department, Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, 2222 West Greenway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85023

Five species of turtles are associated with the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, and all are species of interest either at a state or federal level. One species, the Sonoran desert tortoise Gopherus agassizii and one subspecies, the Sonoyta mud turtle K. s. longifemorale, are the subjects of multi-agency conservation agreements. Conservation agreements and strategies are a relatively new tool used to address specific known threats in order to preclude the need to list a species. In 1990 the Mojave population (all tortoises north and west of the Colorado River) of the desert tortoise was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Based on available data, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that listing the Sonoran population (tortoises south and east of the Colorado River) was not warranted. The Sonoran population is considered a species of special concern by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, and a State Conservation Agreement and Strategy is being constructed by the Arizona Interagency Desert Tortoise Team. The Sonoyta mud turtle, a candidate species for federal listing, is only known from the Rio Sonoyta drainage of extreme northern Sonora, Mexico, and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Pima County, Arizona. A multi-species Candidate Conservation Agreement including the turtle, an endemic spring snail, and pupfish is under construction by both state and federal agencies in Mexico and the United States.