Conservation group intends to sue, protect Mexican spotted owls from Arizona copper mine project

PHOENIX — The endangered Mexican spotted owls in southern Arizona are being threatened by a copper mining project, according to a notice filed Tuesday.

The Center for Biological Diversity jointly filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for violation of the Endangered Species Act.

It alleged, alongside the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, that the BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Copper Creek Exploration Project in Pinal County is a threat to the owls and other surrounding wildlife.

“Federal officials were warned that Mexican spotted owls are in the area but pushed this mining project ahead anyway and skipped steps required by law,” Russ McSpadden, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a news release. “The Endangered Species Act is supposed to protect imperiled wildlife before damage is done, not after agencies brush aside the evidence and greenlight industrial drilling. This mining project is clearly illegal and it must be stopped.”

The owl has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1993. It currently has isolated populations in Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, western Texas and possibly in Mexico.

“The combination of artificial light and industrial noise can disorient (Mexican spotted owls), interrupt behavioral patterns and contribute to long-term habitat degradation and thus the survival of the species,” the notice said. “These compounding impacts further degrade (their) habitat in areas already facing multiple environmental pressures.”

The notice also argues that the species has been “repeatedly documented within the Copper Creek Exploration Project” plans, which were approved by the BLM in June 2025, but that the BLM failed to inform the Fish and Wildlife Service of the project’s impacts.

The copper mine is also said to adversely affect the yellow-billed cuckoo, which has been protected since 2014. It typically can be seen migrating from southern British Columbia, Canada, to southern Sinaloa, Mexico, making southeastern Arizona “one of the few remaining (Western) strongholds for this species,” the notice said.

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