Action timeline

December 15, 2004 – The Center and the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection filed a petition to protect the Tucson shovel-nosed snake under the Endangered  Species Act.

July 29, 2008 – Almost four years after our petition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally announced that the Tucson shovel-nosed snake warrants federal protection. The agency began a one-year status review.

March 30, 2010 – More than five years after the Center's petition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Tucson shovel-nosed snake warranted protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act — but that such protection was precluded by listing of other higher-priority species.

July 12, 2011 – The Center reached a landmark agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service compelling the agency to move forward in the protection process for 757 species, including the Tucson shovel-nosed snake.

Photo by Erik Enderson