Project suspended to relocate desert tortoises

By Associated Press | Saturday, October 11, 2008 11:50 PM PDT ∞

FORT IRWIN ---- An effort to move the Mojave Desert's flagship species, the desert tortoise, off prospective combat training grounds has been suspended because the animals are being ravaged by coyotes.

Army officials decided to move the desert tortoise to make room for tank training despite protests by some conservationists.

Since March, however, about 90 relocated and resident tortoises have died, most killed and eaten by coyotes, according to federal biologists monitoring the project.

"We shut it down because of the mortality rate," said John Wagstaff, spokesman for the base. "It will remain on hold until the Army and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determine the reasons behind it."

The controversial project, billed as the largest desert tortoise move in California history, involves transferring 770 endangered reptiles from Army land to a dozen public plots overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Fort Irwin has sought to expand its 643,000-acre training site into tortoise territory for two decades. The Army said it needs an extra 131,000 acres to accommodate faster tanks and longer-range weapons used each month to train some 4,000 troops.

The coyotes may be attacking tortoises out of desperation because a drought has depleted their usual prey: rabbits.

The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Army, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM in July, accusing them of violating the federal Endangered Species Act in their relocation plans.

"We predicted that the translocation of tortoises from Fort Irwin's expansion would be disastrous and, unfortunately, we were proven right," said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the center. "The loss of so many tortoises is certainly not helping this threatened population."

The tortoise, whose population has fallen to an estimated 45,000 on the public lands in the western Mojave, is protected under state and federal endangered species acts.

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