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

The Clark County Desert Conservation Program: Embracing Adaptive Management and Effectiveness Monitoring

Lewis Wallenmeyer
Program Administrator Desert Conservation Program, Clark County, Nevada 500 S. Grand Central Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89155-6270

The Clark County Desert Conservation Program stems from the 1989 Federal listing of the desert tortoise as a threatened species. Since that time, the program has evolved through development and implementation of a Short-term Desert Conservation Plan for desert tortoise, a Long-term Habitat Conservation Plan for desert tortoise, and finally, beginning in January 2001, a large step to the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan. Two of the most challenging aspects of program management are: 1) developing and implementing program-specific adaptive management principles and practices, and 2) increasing our ability to monitor the effects of management actions and the effectiveness of conservation actions, including habitat restoration, species and habitat inventory, and research activities. As part of the Desert Tortoise Council panel addressing management issues, this brief talk will describe the status and challenges of adaptive management and effectiveness monitoring for the Clark County program.