The decline of the Sonoran pronghorn is an important indicator of a natural ecosystem in stress. Failure to manage this ecosystem adequately is particularly disturbing because most of the land in the Sonoran Desert is public land. The November 6 letter will give the agencies the requisite 60-day notice of the impending lawsuit. Defenders has retained the Washington law firm of Meyer and Glitzenstein to represent them. Although the Sonoran pronghorn has been listed as endangered for more than 30 years, according to FWS records the Arizona population has dropped to an estimated 120 to 180 individuals, and shows no signs of stable growth.
Scientists now believe that extinction is a very real possibility.
The current U.S. distribution of the subspecies is greatly reduced from its historic distribution, now located primarily in the Barry M. Goldwater Range, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, with additional sightings on BLM public lands. FWS attributes this decline to an increasingly inhospitable environment and a lack of adequate home range. Defenders believes that each agency must consider the cumulative impact of all these factors when analyzing specific activities on pronghorn range. Defenders has been actively tracking the decline of the pronghorn and attempting to assist in the recovery process. Since 1991, FWS has been developing an updated recovery plan, but it is still not completed.