28th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, February 21-23, 2003
Abstracts

Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee: Major Accomplishments in 2002 and Plans for 2003

Michael J. Connor, Ph.D.
Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee, 4067 Mission Inn Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501

The Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee (DTPC) was founded in 1974 to promote the welfare of the desert tortoise in its native wild state by developing and managing preserves, and through research and education. The year 2002 saw major advances in each of these areas. The Committee acquired over 2,100 acres of land in and around the Desert Tortoise Natural Area as part of its program to protect and expand the boundaries of the only dedicated tortoise preserve in California. The Committee also took title to 80 acres of prime tortoise habitat in the Chuckwalla Bench. Management Plans were developed for the Committee's land holdings at the Natural Area and at the Pilot Knob grazing allotment. A conservation strategy was drafted to protect the desert tortoise and the rare Harwood's Milkvetch on the DTPC's newly acquired landholdings at the Chuckwalla Bench.

In cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management's Ridgecrest Field Office, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the California Department of Fish and Game, the Committee used grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to make possible tortoise demographic and health surveys of 4 square miles of permanent study plot at the Natural Area in spring 2002 - the first time all four square miles have been covered in a single season since the late 1970s. In addition, successful surveys for Mohave ground squirrel were conducted on three sites on the Pilot Knob grazing allotment.

The Committee's educational endeavors were equally outstanding. The Committee staffed a naturalist at the DTNA for the fourteenth year in a row - with a record 37% of visitors seeing a wild desert tortoise during the spring 2002 season. Committee volunteers and staff gave 29 educational presentations. The DTPC's interactive educational kiosks - Mojave Desert Discovery Centers - continued to educate the public at locations in Bakersfield and Barstow (and soon in the town of Yucca Valley). The Committee's website attracted over 660,000 hits, a 42% increase over 2001.

The Committee's plans for 2003 include significant habitat acquisitions and enhancements in and around the Desert Tortoise Natural Area; on the ground management actions and tortoise surveys at the Natural Area's Honda study site in preparation for head starting and other tortoise recovery initiatives; and additional biosurveys and land acquisitions at the Chuckwalla Bench.