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

Department of Fish and Game and the Desert Tortoise, Our State Reptile

Ron Rempel, Deputy Director, Habitat Conservation California Department of Fish and Game, 1416 9th Street, Sacramento, CA 95658

Since 1939, state laws have been in place to protect the desert tortoise. In August of 1989, the tortoise was officially listed as Threatened. The Department's mandate for protecting the tortoise is the California Endangered Species Act. Section 2081 of the Fish and Game Code, allows take with a permit for scientific, educational, management, or incidental take to an otherwise lawful activity provided the take is minimized and fully mitigated. In addition to the Take Permit, a Memorandum of Understanding for Handling Tortoises is needed and we must review the qualification of each person who applies for the MOU. The Department also issues Scientific Collecting Permits for research and studies on desert tortoise and permits for Possession of Captive Tortoises.

The Department, through the CESA permitting process, and by other means, has acquired over 30,000 acres of desert lands within recovery units. Along with the land, the Department has also collected enhancement and endowment fees for management of the lands. Fencing has been installed in some of the areas to exclude cattle grazing and OHV use. In addition to the lands that have been acquired by the Department, some mitigation lands have been acquired by the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee and others have gone to the Bureau of Land Management.

In 2003, the Department worked with local jurisdictions to aid them in complying with the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Endangered Species Act. Compliance inspections on Incidental Take Permits issued have been increased, especially on large projects such as Interstate 15 widening projects and Kern River Pipeline. We worked on permitting several large projects, with the largest being a test track of Hyundai in Kern County. The Department spent significant time and resources in review and commenting on the Draft EIS/EIR for the West Mojave Plan.

This past year the Department also funded blood work and necropsies for health and disease information. Law enforcement activities continue to result in the seizure of illegally possessed tortoises and removal of feral dogs. We are continuing to work with the California Tortoise and Turtle Club to improve permitting for captive tortoises.