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

The Clark County Desert Conservation Program: 2001-2003 Biennium Accomplishments

Lewis Wallenmeyer
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, effective in January 2001, the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The MSHCP covers the desert tortoise and 78 other species.

Clark County has recently completed the first full biennial cycle of conservation funding for the MSHCP. As plan implementation has progressed, two of the most challenging aspects of program management are: 1) Developing, implementing, and refining 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 provide a summary of desert tortoise-related conservation actions accomplished during the 2001-2003 biennium and provide an update on the status of adaptive management and effectiveness monitoring for the Clark County program.