Twenty-Third Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, April 3-5, 1998
Abstracts

The Desert Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery Plan (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1994) describes a strategy for the recovery and delisting of the Mojave population of desert tortoises. This strategy includes: (1) identification of six recovery units, (2) establishment of a system of Desert Wildlife Management Areas (DWMAs) within recovery units, and (3) development and implementation of specific recovery actions within DWMAs.

In the Northeastern Mojave Recovery Unit, the Recovery Plan recommended establishment of the Piute-Eldorado, Coyote Springs, Mormon Mesa, Beaver Dam Slope, and Gold Butte-Pakoon DWMAs. A portion of the proposed Ivanpah DWMA in California is also included in this recovery unit. These areas involve seven primary jurisdictional units: four BLM resource areas, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Mojave National Preserve, and the Fish and Wildlife Service Desert National Wildlife Refuge. There are additional lands managed by various agencies, including the states, counties, military, Indian tribes, as well as private lands.

The Arizona Strip BLM has developed a proposal that is designed to address tortoise recovery goals and objectives. The Proposed Action implements many of the recommendations of the Desert Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery Plan, and is designed to complement actions proposed by adjacent BLM districts. BLM proposes to designate three Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (169,300 acres; 264.5 sq. miles) to be managed primarily for recovery of desert tortoises, and modify the prescriptions for the Virgin River ACEC. BLM would implement management prescriptions within the four ACECs.