I have heard on a talkradio show that the fed government bought that land because of an endangered tortose animal? Just wondering.
No. The federal government bought the land in 1848 from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
That is mostly incorrect. The US government has owned the land at the end of the US Mexico war via the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Now does the tortoise have something to do with the US governments unwillingness to continue to lease out the grazing rights ... likely.