Ocelot and Jaguar sightings over the past 60 days in the Santa Rita Mountains in Arizona has the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine Project on hold.............In addition, the US Corp of Engineers has rejected the Mine's plan to mitigate impacts on streams and washes

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Ocelot sighting 

adds new delay

 to Rosemont Mine

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Posted May 22, 2014, 1:27 pm

Paul IngramTucsonSentinel.com

The discovery of a lone male
ocelot roaming around the

 proposed Rosemont Mine
 in the Santa Rita Mountains

 will delay the controversial
 project. 

The ocelot was captured by
 remote cameras as part 

of a joint survey run by
 University of Arizona
researchers 

and officials from U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. Just over

 a month ago, the project's remote camera
 also snapped 

pictures of a northern jaguar. 

The male ocelot was

 photographed on

 April 8 and May 14. 

In a May 16 letter 

to Coronado National

 Forest officials, 

Steve Spangle, an FWS field
supervisor, wrote that the

 ocelot was one of three triggers
 requiring the agency

 to review its own analysis of
 the environmental impact of 

the copper mine. 

The agency is also concerned
 about the potential for damage 

to Cienega Creek and Empire
 Gulch. Decreasing stream flows

 in the waterways could alter
habitat critical to the Huachuca 

water umbel plant, the Gila chub
 and Gila topminnow fish, the

 Southwestern willow flycatcher
bird and the Chiricahua leopard

 frog, he wrote. 

The letter also said that the
 altered stream flows may challenge

 two species that FWS may add
to the list of endangered or  

threatened species: the northern
Mexican garter snake and the Western 

yellow-billed cuckoo. 

As the letter from FWS noted, the
 ocelot is difficult to count because
 it secretive

 nature, however, in the original
 environmental review the service
noted that if 

ocelots were "definitely documented
in the action area in the future, reinitiation 

of consultation would be prudent..." 

The U.S. Forest Service will provide a
response to the new review soon, said an

 agency spokeswoman. 

This is mine's second setback from a
 federal agency in less than a week. 

Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers rejected the mine's plans to
 mitigate

 impacts on streams and washes. 

In a May 13 letter to Rosemont Copper
 CEO Rod Pace, Col. Kimberly Colloton 

wrote that the company's plans to
purchase water rights and other
 mitigation efforts won’t compensate
for “unavoidable adverse impacts"
from the mine. 

The judgement from the engineers
was sent to the Forest Service, which will
use

 the Army Corps review to make their
 own decision about the proposed mine. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos:

 Remote

 cam snaps 

jaguar in 

Santa Ritas

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o

Posted Apr 18, 2014, 9:04 pm

Paul IngramTucsonSentinel.com

Remote
 survey
cameras
 funded by the Department

 of Homeland Security have
captured new
 images of

 an endangered northern
jaguar moving
through 

Southern Arizona. 

On March 5, a remote camera
photographed a male

 jaguar in the Santa Rita Mountains.
 The image, along

 with dozens more, are hosted on
 the Flickr page for

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
 under "Jaguar/Ocelot

 Survey." 

The camera is part of a network of
cameras placed in

 pairs across 120 sites from the
Baboquivari Mountains

 in Southern Arizona and east to the
 Animas Mountains in southwest
 New Mexico. The Santa Ritas include
the area that would be covered by the
proposed Rosemont

 Mine.

The $771,000 study is run by
University of Arizona 

researchers and officials from FWS.

The jaguar, which is listed as an
 endangered species, 

once ranged from California into
Louisiana. However,

 habitat destruction and hunting
 decimated the

 population.

Jaguars have been spotted
occasionally in southern 

Arizona in recent years, including
 reports of one in

 the Santa Rita Mountains south
 of Tucson. In 2009, state Game and 

Fish Department employees snared
an aged jaguar, dubbed Macho B, 

which died shortly after in captivity.

The Center for Biological Diversity
 sued Fish and Wildlife three times 

seeking critical habitat protection
 for jaguars. In 2009, a federal judge 

in Arizona rejected the agency’s
arguments against the designation, 

including the fact that few jaguars
were believed to be in the United States.

In March, FWS labeled more than
 764,000 acres in Southeastern Arizona 

and Southwestern New Mexico as
 habitat critical to the survival of the 

endangered animals in the United States. 

A recovery plan for the northern jaguar
 is slated for release in the 

spring and could include efforts to
 increase the number of jaguars in 

northern Mexico as well as the
 United States.