Chief of Interpretation for JTNP Joe Zarki organizes the park’s count, collects the data and forwards it to the national archive. He pronounced the results from this year’s census about average. Fifty species were seen on count day, which is within the normal range, and the total of 3,349 individual birds also fell within a normal range considering not only the weather on count day, but the recent snow and cold conditions in the park and Basin over the last few weeks.
Zarki praises the CBC as the “longest, on-going wildlife survey in the park.” As an illustration of how the count data has been of use to the park, he noted that mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus) haven’t appeared on the park’s CBC list since 1994. Although there have been some sightings reported by individuals on an intermittent basis during the intervening years, none have been seen on CBC day.
This gives Zarki some concern that the species may be in decline here, and if it is, the park, as a professional resource manager, wants to know why. Could it be climate change? Invasive species? The decline of a certain seed source the mountain quail depend on for food?
This is how trends in population dynamics can sometimes inspire research which might eventually lead to the discovery of an important ecological change in a local or even wider-range environment.
Biologists theorize the problem may be connected to severe drought conditions, which have killed off plants and triggered a crash in rodent populations. As a result, coyotes, which normally thrive on kangaroo rats and rabbits, are turning to tortoises for sustenance.They also point out that translocated tortoises tend to wander, sometimes for miles, making them lumbering targets for hungry predators.
Gashes and tooth marks in the shell of one translocated tortoise discovered in April by federal biologists indicated that it had been ripped out of the front of its carapace.
Other threats include vehicle traffic and an infectious respiratory disease. The disease was prevalent in the relocation area, and now the newcomers are catching it. - Los Angeles Times
Two environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Desert Survivors, sued the Army and the Bureau of Land Management in July, contending that the move exposed healthy tortoises to diseased animals and placed them in a poorer-quality habitat.
Ileene Anderson...said...that the relocated tortoises are more vulnerable to coyotes and other predators because, once they are dropped off, they try to return to their homes. Under normal circumstances, they would seek refuge in their burrows, she said.
"It makes them more visible on the landscape, and it makes it easier for coyotes and other predators to spot them and kill them," Anderson said. - Press-Enterprise
Now the tortoises face another threat. The Marine Corps wants to expand the Twentynine Palms Air Ground Combat Center onto an off-road recreation area. If displaced off-roaders push the government to open desert land now closed to off-roading, more tortoise habitat could be lost.
If that happens, creatures that coexist with them including burrowing owls could be lost, too. That must not happen.
A 10-pound successor to the Mojave Max legacy at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area has been selected to carry on educating people about their role and responsibility in the health of the Mojave Desert.
[snip]
On June 30, the first Mojave Max died of natural causes at an estimated age of 65 years old at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
The Mojave Max Emergence Contest encourages students to study the conditions of the Mojave Desert and the behaviors of desert species and then predict when the live Mojave Max will emerge from his burrow each spring. The original Mojave Max emerged as early as Feb. 14 and as late as April 14 during his nine-year tenure.
Mountain lions have size, strength, teeth and claws to use for hunting and self defense. Spiders and scorpions, on the other hand, have venom and some means for getting it into something they want to eat — usually an insect or another arachnid — or into something they perceive as an attacker. Humans are, of course, injected by spiders and scorpions only in the latter case, and only if it appears to the little perceiver that it doesn’t have a flight option. After all, even though renewable, venom is a precious resource and is best conserved for hunting purposes.
BLM Desert District Manager Steve Borchard explained, “We were able to take advantage of federal legislation that allows us to use funds from sales of unneeded public lands to purchase lands like these adjacent to specially designated areas.”In addition to protecting the only known habitat for fringe-toed lizards, the acquisitions also provide a linkage for bobcats, kit foxes and desert bighorn sheep to move between the national park and the Coachella Valley Preserve.
Read more in the Hi-Desert Star.Borchard explained the BLM purchase was just part of a total acquisition of about 14 square miles near Palm Springs, made possible through the partnership of a number of organizations.
“In particular, it was through the efforts and generosity of the nonprofit Friends of the Desert Mountains,” said Borchard, “that BLM was able to purchase the final 621 acres for the Coachella Valley Preserve at a considerable discount.”
The burned remains of [a desert] tortoise were discovered Aug. 4 in a fire grate at the Black Rock campground, according to a park news release issued Tuesday. Officials estimate the animal was about 45 years old.
Read the rest in the Desert Trail.He said Tuesday, July 15 that sometime next week the tribe is expected to have a finalized version of a wildlife habitat conservation plan, not only for desert tortoises but for any other endangered animals and plants found at the site.
Protocols for tortoises, he said, will include the placement of fencing to protect the animals and establishment of a location on the 160-acre site for tortoises that have to be relocated because of construction.
The protocol, he said, is based on one created by Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree for its construction plans.