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

Defense Department Participation in Desert Tortoise Management

Colonel Edward L. Flinn
Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, P.O. Box 105013, Bldg 237, Fort Irwin, CA 92310

Much desert tortoise research has either taken place on Department of Defense (DOD) lands or been funded by military installations. DOD installations are and will continue to be active participants in collaborative groups such as the Desert Managers Group, the West Mojave Coordinated Management Plan, the Desert Tortoise Management Oversight Group, and other organizations focused on ecosystem management of the desert tortoise. A formal committee of military land managers meets regularly to discuss and coordinate DOD installation resource management actions.

The DOD is committed to long-term tortoise management and ultimately, delisting of the species. As an agency, we urge other federal land management agencies to follow our lead. Without a cooperative and collaborative effort throughout the range of the tortoise, no single agency can achieve the goals outlined by the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan. The Sikes Act requires all installations complete and implement an Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan (INRMP). These plans detail research and military installation land management goals for a period of five years. They are completed with the cooperation of the USFWS and the appropriate state wildlife management agency to insure these plans meet the goals of the recovery plan. This presentation will focus primarily on these and other "desert-wide" issues, such as sustainable training, encroachment and the loss of habitat due to urban development and is intended to provide an overview of tortoise conservation efforts currently ongoing on military installations throughout the Mojave Desert.