Does slow and steady win the race? Lake Mead National Recreation Area Inventories Mojave Desert Tortoise

By Summer Boulais, I&M Science Communicator

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (NRA) is America’s first national recreation area, providing outdoor opportunities along the border of Arizona and Nevada. It also provides a home for the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) whose population is currently in a rapid decline. Slow and steady wins the race in the famous fable The Tortoise and the Hare, but now this tortoise may be falling a little too far behind.

NPS/Corey Mitchell

Mojave Tortoise vs. Major Threats

The desert tortoise lives up to its name by often residing in desert valleys, where it feeds on grasses and wildflowers. They are a critically endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. Major threats they face include their habitat becoming fragmented or lost due to urban development and infrastructure growth, as well as roadside incidents. In 1990, desert tortoise populations north and west of the Colorado River were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Lake Mead NRA is an ecologically important area for the desert tortoise; it sits at the intersection of federally listed and unlisted populations, spanning the Colorado River.

Lake Mead NRA is located along 1.5 million acres of mountains, lakes, canyons and valleys. NPS/USFWS

Collaborative Conservation

There is suitable habitat for this species at Lake Mead NRA, but park managers were unsure of how many tortoises were in the park. They collaborated with the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Division and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Desert Tortoise Recovery Office (DTRO) to survey for desert tortoises. They aimed to determine their population status and range within the recreation area. It is important to learn more about this long-lived desert resident to best conserve them and their habitat.

Desert tortoises play a crucial role within the desert ecosystem by digging burrows that provide shelter for other species, provide seed dispersal, and they are often considered an indicator species—desert tortoises are sensitive to environmental change and can be a reflection of the health of their ecosystem.

Where this belongs

• Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Where this page came from

This page was imported from National Park Service. Produced by the U.S. National Park Service and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.