As part of a multi-year collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), CSP hosted a three-day workshop in Las Vegas, Nevada, to discuss strategic plans to improve and streamline recovery efforts for the Mojave desert tortoise across its range. BLM biologists and natural resource managers from field, district, and state offices across California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah were present, as well as managers, researchers, and experts from BLM Headquarters, US Geological Survey, and US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS). Though the USFWS is tasked with species recovery in the United States, the BLM manages a majority of Mojave desert tortoise critical habitat, making collaboration across these agencies paramount to tortoise survival. CSP has facilitated these interagency discussions for the past four years via in-person workshops, webinars, small-group discussions, and presentations to the Mojave desert tortoise Management Oversight Group. CSP hosted the workshop, the first in-person gathering of this working group since the global COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on such gatherings in 2020, from February 28 to March 2, 2023 at Springs Preserve near downtown Las Vegas. Lead Scientist Amy Collins and Associate Scientist Bryan Wallace (Ecolibrium, Inc.) led and facilitated discussions with the group that included defining areas to be prioritized for implementation of recovery actions, considering management and recovery coordination across state and jurisdictional boundaries, incorporating climate resiliency into strategic action, and monitoring for and communicating successful recovery outcomes.The working group was invigorated by the energy of in-person brainstorming and breakout sessions, and CSP gained insights into the roadblocks BLM have historically faced when working towards recovery of the desert tortoise.The discussions and ideas generated in this workshop, as well as past efforts, will culminate in an internal strategic and multi-year action plan for the management of the Mojave desert tortoise across BLM lands, with the overall goal of improving the efficacy of tortoise recovery actions.
