By DAVID DANELSKI, The Press-Enterprise
Federal officials plan to resume as early as next month a controversial effort to relocate desert tortoises from land north of Barstow where the U.S. Army wants to conduct expanded training maneuvers.The Army suspended the relocation effort last year after more than 90 tortoises died; most were killed by coyotes. In all, 556 tortoises were moved in spring 2008 from Fort Irwin expansion areas to public land between the base and Interstate 15.
As many as 1,200 of the reptiles would be moved this time -- about 90 in September and October, and about 1,100 starting in the spring. The government is pushing through the environmental review process to help the Army avoid delaying the relocations.
Critics said the tortoise deaths showed that moving them from their longtime homes made them more vulnerable to coyotes. The reptiles are designated as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act.
Draft environmental documents released Friday by the federal Bureau of Land Management said drought, not relocation, was to blame for the "very high" coyote predation rates.
The scarcity of water meant coyotes had fewer rabbits and other normal prey. The coyotes apparently turned to tortoises as a food of last resort, the government says, citing reports of higher coyote predation elsewhere in Southern California and Nevada deserts.
"They have determined that in other study areas (without relocated tortoises) the predation rate was basically the same," said Chris Otahal, a wildlife biologist for the BLM's Barstow office.
The environmental documents are expected to be finalized after a 15-day public comment period that ends Aug. 14. That would allow the Army to move ahead with plans to move 89 tortoises starting on Sept. 15, and as many as 1,143 starting next spring, Otahal said.
Critics
Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity, said Tuesday that she is skeptical of the government's conclusions and believes relocating tortoises will doom many of them.
Tortoises captured and moved from their home range are under stress, because they are trying to find their old territory and haven't established burrows that provide shelter from weather and protection from predators, Anderson said. After last year's relocation, some of the tortoises that were moved found their way back to their home territory as far as eight miles away, according to government documents.
Mortality statistics contained in the documents released Friday are based on small samplings, and the report doesn't make clear how the tortoises died, she said.
"It is incomplete and inadequate," Anderson said.
The government relied on the information that was available, Otahal said.
"Everyone agrees that we would like to have better data, but that is what we have," he said.
Comment period
Anderson said that a 15-day comment period isn't long enough for the public to absorb more than a hundred pages of dense, technical documents that justify resuming the tortoise relocations. The organization will seek a longer public-comment period.
Otahal said that such documents normally are subject to a 30-day comment period. The Army sought a shorter comment period so it can begin moving tortoises to BLM-managed land south of Fort Irwin next month.
Last year's suspension delayed the program for a year. If it doesn't resume next month, the delay could force the Army to renegotiate a contract with a private company that will catch and move the animals.
Fort Irwin officials did not return a call requesting comment.
Tortoises have inhabited the Mojave Desert for hundreds of thousands of years. Their numbers have dwindled as a result of disease, predation by ravens and coyotes, habitat loss and crushing by motor vehicles, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Reach David Danelski at 951-368-9471 or ddanelski@PE.com
View the report
The tortoise relocation report can be found at BLM's Barstow office, 2601 Barstow Road, or at www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/barstow.html
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