This blog post presents a recent op-ed written for The Arizona Republic and seen in USA Today that highlights efforts to save a tiny native desert owl under the Trump administration's potential changes to the Endangered Species Act.
The Trump administration’s anticipated proposals to weaken the Endangered Species Act by rolling back critical protective regulations could seal the fate for the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl.
This fierce yet diminutive owl is hanging on by a thread in Arizona. As an icon of the Sonoran Desert, its well-being reflects the vitality of saguaro-dotted bajadas, riparian gallery forests and mesquite woodlands.
Yet, there are no known populations north of Interstate 10 despite the availability of suitable habitat.
The dewatering of major rivers and loss of interconnected riparian woodlands and now prolonged drought, invasive species, as well as accelerating habitat loss and fragmentation from infrastructure and development have all taken a toll on the species over the last century. Now, changes to the Endangered Species Act, including the pending recission of the “harm” definition to exclude habitat loss and weaken mitigation options, will make the owl’s recovery far more challenging.
A shining example of protection is the Pima County Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan. This regional plan is a groundbreaking model for balancing conservation and development as it protects key habitats and guides sustainable growth. Despite some weaknesses in grazing management and lack of nest site conservation, it lays out the foundation for habitat protection efforts. Building on that legacy, a grant for Collaborative Landscape-Scale Ecosystem Restoration in the Altar Valley aims to scale up conservation in bold new ways.
In fact, many local landowners support such treatments when paired with regulatory flexibility that is offered under the ESA.
Currently, there are two habitat conservation plans that cover incidental take (i.e., the unintentional harming or killing of a protected species) of the owl. Both quantify take only in terms of habitat loss; if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were to interpret “harm” to no longer include habitat loss, it would largely eliminate the incentive to enter plans on non-federal lands to the detriment of the pygmy-owl.
Additionally, over nearly a decade the Arizona Game and Fish Department released captive-bred owls into the wild that had little to no benefit for the larger population as they were placed into marginal habitat and often died shortly afterward.
Partly because of litigation by Defenders of Wildlife, the Service listed the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl as a “threatened” subspecies under the ESA in 2024 and concluded critical habitat designation was needed but would be designated later. The owl continues to wait for that critical lifeline.
Of course, protecting and restoring habitat isn’t enough. Landscape connectivity allows the pygmy-owl to move between territories, ensuring the population persistence. But connectivity doesn’t come cheap — it requires strategic land acquisitions, easements and restoration.
All these actions to recover the owl are placed squarely at risk by the ESA revisions proposed by the Trump administration.
Saving the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl isn’t just about protecting a single species: it’s about the ecological and cultural fabric of southern Arizona. We need to employ science and shared purposes to ensure Arizona’s unique wildlife legacy.
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