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So saving the endangered species is a long game — one that just got another nudge forward Friday as U.S. wildlife officials finalized an agreement with Ted Turner’s Endangered Species Fund that clears the way for the release of more Bolson tortoises on the media mogul’s ranch in central New Mexico.

“Each and every day we’re learning more and more about the Bolson tortoise’s natural history,” Phillips said.

Absent a willingness by wildlife managers to think more broadly, he said, species like the Bolson tortoise could have a bleak future.

Across Turner’s vast land holdings, that work has ranged from breeding endangered Bolson tortoises to providing habitat for endangered black-footed ferrets and gray wolves in the northern Rockies.

At lunchtime on Friday, Jeff Bolson, a self-described “die-hard Democrat” who, like Mr. Gottheimer, lives in Bergen County, said he was worried that the brinkmanship in Washington could jeopardize the infrastructure bill and the climate change initiatives, both of which he supports.