Overview
- The Center for Biological Diversity filed an 11-page lawsuit on May 29, 2026 asking a court to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to finalize endangered listing and critical habitat for the Quitobaquito tryonia and naming Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and FWS Director Brian Nesvik as defendants.
- Contractors for U.S. Customs and Border Protection have started groundwork for the Tucson 2 secondary barrier project that CBP maps place within a few dozen feet of Quitobaquito Springs, raising immediate concerns about grading, concrete footers and local water use.
- Advocates point to earlier CBP construction that used millions of gallons of water, which they say drained the aquifer and damaged the pond’s concrete liner, and they warn similar impacts could destroy the spring’s hydrologic function.
- The Quitobaquito tryonia lives in a spring complex roughly one-third the size of a soccer field and has already vanished from two other springs after water flow was lost, making it highly vulnerable to any change in groundwater or surface flow.
- The suit adds to reports that contractors have damaged the millennia-old Las Playas Intaglio and that agencies and zoos are organizing emergency salvage plans, which could prompt courts to force federal action and affect the pace and oversight of future border work.