26th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, March 16-18, 2001
Abstracts

Progress Report on Desert Tortoise Recovery Efforts in Nevada

Bob Williams
Field Supervisor, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Suite 234, Reno, Nevada

Desert tortoise recovery efforts are moving forward in Nevada following completion of land use plans for all desert tortoise habitat under Bureau of Land Management (BLM) management in Nevada. In August 2000, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) hired a Desert Tortoise Coordinator to facilitate desert tortoise population monitoring using line distance sampling methods and recovery tasks across the range of the desert tortoise. In November 2000, the existing Clark County, Nevada habitat conservation plan for desert tortoise was superseded by a multiple species habitat conservation plan (MSHCP). The incidental take permit issued in association the MSHCP will allow the incidental take of two listed species, the desert tortoise and southwestern willow flycatcher, and 76 unlisted species should they become listed in the future. As mitigation under the MSHCP, the County and land managers will implement desert tortoise conservation and recovery tasks approved by the Service, including the Clark County desert tortoise translocation program. Under the translocation program, researchers and contractors have successfully translocated over 2,000 desert tortoises during the past 3 years.

Desert tortoise recovery issues that Service staff are addressing include the potential need to formally review the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan which was finalized in 1994. Before undertaking such a review, workshops would be held to assess the current level of knowledge on effects to desert tortoise from livestock grazing, disease, and predation from ravens and other important desert tortoise predators. The unidentified cause of significant desert tortoise mortality at sites such as Goffs and local desert tortoise extinctions are problematic for recovery efforts. Other priority issues include the invasion of non-native vegetation into desert tortoise habitat and its effects on the Mojave Desert ecology and tortoise nutrition and health. Inadequate funding continues to limit our abilities to fully implement recovery tasks recommended in the Recovery Plan, including rangewide population monitoring. However, the Service, with support from the Desert Managers Group and other partners, continues to seek appropriations and funding for these tasks with limited success.