PHOENIX � The public can now review and comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s draft recovery plan for the endangered Sonoyta mud turtle, a freshwater turtle found in southern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. The recovery plan’s goal is to recover the subspecies so it no longer needs protections under the Endangered Species Act. The 30-day public comment period opens on Aug. 28 and closes on Sept. 29, 2025.
The recovery plan describes actions that are considered necessary for the recovery of the Sonoyta mud turtle, establishes downlisting and delisting criteria and estimates the time and cost to implement these recovery actions. The recovery strategy focuses on ensuring existing Sonoyta mud turtle populations continue in the wild within the U.S. and Mexico, conserving their habitat, monitoring the turtles and their habitats, improving turtle management through scientific research, increasing the number of individuals and populations, and establishing refuge populations.
Considered a small turtle, the Sonoyta mud turtle measures up to 5.2 inches (13.5 centimeters) long and has mottled patterns on its head, neck and limbs. The Service listed the subspecies as endangered in 2017. It has a limited distribution, occurring as a single population in the U.S. at Quitobaquito Springs in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona, and as three to five populations in the Rio Sonoyta basin in Sonora, Mexico.
Primary threats to the turtle include the loss and decline of its aquatic and riparian riparian
Definition of riparian habitat or riparian areas.
Learn more about riparian habitat due to drought and groundwater pumping. Thanks to conservation measures implemented by the National Park Service and Quitobaquito Rio Sonoyta Work Group, the only Sonoyta mud turtle population in the U.S. persists.
The Service, in collaboration with stakeholders and partners, develops and implements recovery plans to support the conservation and recovery of endangered and threatened species. These are not regulatory documents, and implementation of actions is not required by the ESA. Instead, recovery plans serve as road maps with specific management actions to foster cooperation in conservation for listed species and their ecosystems.
The Service encourages the public, federal and state agencies, tribes and other stakeholders to review and provide comments. Submit comments by mail to the Arizona Ecological Services Field Office, 9828 North 31st Avenue Suite C3, Phoenix, Arizona 85051 or by email at [email protected].
