Desert Tortoise Management Area: 1992 Report of Activities

National Park Service

The Short-Term Habitat Conservation Plan for the Desert Tortoise in Clark County, Nevada (HCP) provides a mechanism to conserve and manage at least 400,000 acres of tortoise habitat in Clark County for the benefit of the species. As a cooperator in the Clark County HCP, the National Park Service (NPS) initiated management of a portion of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) as a Tortoise Management Area (TMA) during the Spring and Summer of 1992. Managed under more restrictive land use guidelines which include the elimination of domestic livestock grazing from this portion of LMNRA, this area is recognized as conserved habitat by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Consequently, this acreage is credited toward Clark County's long-term obligation to conserve 400,000 acres of tortoise habitat in order to maintain a valid permit issued in accordance with Section 10 (a) of the Endangered Species Act. This permit allows incidental take of 3,710 desert tortoises on up to 22,352 acres of habitat in the Las Vegas Valley. In addition to instituting additional land use restrictions and law enforcement efforts on the TMA during 1992, the NPS established two one square mile permanent study plots (PSP's) in order to collect baseline data on tortoise populations and create a system by which population and habitat conditions can be monitored on a long-term basis.