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

Management of Desert Tortoise Habitat on Bureau of Land Management Administered Lands in Nevada

Meg Jensen
Lands and Planning Bureau of Land Management, Nevada State Office, Reno, Nevada

The listing of the desert tortoise as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act has significantly influenced the manner in which the BLM administers public lands in southern Nevada. The BLM administers approximately 4.5 million acres of desert tortoise habitat in Clark, Lincoln, and Nye counties, Nevada, of which 1,085,000 acres have been designated as critical habitat. There is almost no activity that BLM authorizes within our Las Vegas, Tonopah, and Caliente Field Offices (FO) that does not affect desert tortoise. BLM in NV has eliminated or reduced livestock grazing on significant portions of desert tortoise habitat in these areas. Active management to maintain desert tortoise populations is ongoing: BLM personnel are actively involved in preventing desert tortoise collection, and vandalism; management changes have been made to reduce mortality from various motorized vehicle activities; utility and energy facilities and corridors are evaluated and impacts mitigated; and wildfires in desert tortoise habitat receive priority response and emergency stabilization as quickly as possible. BLM is actively participating in the development and implementation of several Multiple Species Habitat Management Plans. Land sales in Clark and Lincoln Counties are funding habitat acquisition, parks, installation of protective fencing and other activities in support of desert tortoise conservation.