Bookmark and Share

More press releases

For Immediate Release, May 14, 2013

Contact: Tierra Curry, (928) 522-3681

Recovered Arkansas Snail Removed From Endangered Species List 

Magazine Mountain Shagreen Is an Endangered Species Act Success Story

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that a unique Arkansas snail, the Magazine Mountain shagreen, is recovered and being removed from the federal list of endangered species. The snail, found only in Arkansas, was protected in 1989 due to threats to its habitat. Protection under the Endangered Species Act successfully prevented loss of the snail’s mountain habitat, and the Service has determined that it is no longer in danger of extinction. It is the first invertebrate ever to be declared recovered under the Act.

“The recovery of the Magazine Mountain shagreen is another great example of the power of the Endangered Species Act, which has prevented the extinction of hundreds of plants and animals across the country,” said Tierra Curry, a biologist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Without federal protection this little Arkansas snail would have been lost forever.”

The shagreen is a small, brown land snail with a shell one-third of an inch tall and half an inch wide. It lives nowhere on Earth but the loose rock slopes high on Magazine Mountain in Logan County. Threatened by proposed military training activities and by construction related to state park development, it was protected in 1989, and the Fish and Wildlife Service approved a recovery plan outlining the steps to save it in 1994.

In 2005 the Service signed an agreement with the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest and the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism to protect the snail’s mountain habitat. The Service has also developed a monitoring plan to make sure the snail remains safe from habitat loss and other threats.

“Arkansas is a beautiful state that’s home to all kinds of rare plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. It’s great that the Magazine Mountain shagreen, a special piece of the state’s natural heritage, will be around for generations to come,” said Curry.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act. On Friday celebrations will be held across the country for Endangered Species Day.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.


Go back