29th Annual Meeting and Symposium of the
Desert Tortoise Council, February 20-23, 2004
Abstracts

Desert Tortoise Conservation and Recovery Accomplishments of the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee in 2003

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

The Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee (DTPC) has worked since 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 Committee made significant advances in each of these areas in 2003.

The DTPC was instrumental in establishing the 39.5 square mile Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area (DTNA) at a location in the western Mojave Desert known to have a very high carrying capacity for desert tortoises. Since then, DTPC has worked to consolidate the DTNA by purchasing private inholdings to manage them for tortoise recovery. Although the DTNA is too small to be viable as a stand-alone recovery area, it has become increasingly threatened with isolation from critical habitat by human activities on the surrounding lands. In 2002, DTPC embarked on a major initiative to facilitate desert tortoise recovery and conservation by expanding the Natural Area to create more defensible boundaries and to provide a viable corridor to designated critical habitat to the east. In 2003, DTPC acquired an additional 519 acres in and around the DTNA and began working to secure support for the expansion proposal from the wildlife agencies. The Committee's acquisitions in the eastern expansion area are now nearing the critical mass of contiguous parcels needed to facilitate the fencing required exclude unauthorized vehicles and sheep.

Major new tortoise management actions included the design and construction of a tortoise crossing under Harper Lake Road. This culvert will reduce population fragmentation by allowing tortoises to move across fenced stretches of the road. Although drainage culverts under major highways such as Highway 58 are available for use by tortoises, the Harper Lake Road culvert is the first purpose built tortoise crossing in the West Mojave region. Because it is not a drainage culvert, it can be closed temporarily and so provides a potential mechanism to restrict tortoise movement, should such management be required.

The DTPC continued its research and monitoring programs with significant surveys for desert tortoise and two other species that share the tortoise's habitat. Detailed studies of desert tortoise population, demography and health status were initiated at a site within the existing Natural Area identified as potentially suitable for the development and implementation of experimental recovery techniques such as head starting. Successful Mohave ground squirrel trapping surveys were conducted on DTPC lands in the DTNA eastern expansion area. DTPC continued its work at the Chuckwalla Bench by conducting the first systematic surveys for the rare Harwood's milkvetch. Four new locations for the plant were identified in the Chuckwalla Desert Wildlife Management Area.

For the fifteenth consecutive year, a DTPC Naturalist provided interpretive services and monitored visitors at the DTNA. In partnership with the Kern County Library, DTPC placed one of its Mojave Desert Discovery Center kiosks at the California City Branch Library. The California City Branch Library is located 5 miles south of the DTNA Interpretive Center and is an ideal location for outreach to the local community.