Caring for the natives

Center offers a safe haven for displaced tortoises

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For the past 15 years, Southern Nevada homebuyers -- whether in Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson or Boulder City -- indirectly have supported the creation and operation of the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in the far southwest part of the Las Vegas Valley.

For each acre of disturbed land, developers must pay $550 into a special fund for the maintenance and upkeep of the facility that houses the largest reptile in the Southwest.

For a home sitting on one-seventh of an acre, or about 6,000 square feet, the homeowner pays a tortoise fee of roughly $79.

Last month, about 50 Southern Nevada residents took advantage of a rare offer that opened the DTCC to the public. Generally, the 222-acre compound is not open to the public or to school or nonprofit field trips, and dropping off wayward tortoises is shunned because they are to be collected and transported by special handlers.

Located on one-third of the 640 acres of public land set aside for the DTCC a mile south of the intersection of Rainbow Boulevard and Starr Avenue, the collection of more than 600 units used as holding, research, quarantine and hatching pens owes its genesis to the desert tortoise being declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

"In 1989, when it was listed, it caused a moratorium on development that made everyone very upset because the homebuilders had to stop building ... and put everything on hold," said Michelle McDermott, director of the DTCC and an employee of Southern Nevada Environmental Inc., the administrating contractor for operation of the site. "There was a $1 million out-of-court settlement that provided money for the facility. Also, all properties had to be cleared (of tortoises). Sun City, Summerlin, Peccole Ranch, Lewis Homes ... had to be cleared. About 1,000 tortoises were brought here and considered (Bureau of Land Management) animals with some being split off for research programs."

The lawsuit that pitted the state, the city of Las Vegas, homebuilder's associations and nine major developers -- including Howard Hughes Properties and the Del Webb Corp. -- against three federal agencies ended up with more than 7,000 acres on 11 different properties being cleared of tortoises by the Nevada Division of Wildlife.

Following that, a desert tortoise hot line was created so developers or homeowners who came across a wayward tortoise could call the number and a special handler would come rescue the reptile and take it to the DTCC.

The reason the desert tortoise was listed -- first as an endangered species but later reclassified as a threatened species -- was because of a contagious condition known as upper respiratory tract disease (URTD).

The disease was discovered in some Mojave tortoises in the deserts of California and Nevada -- tortoises found west of the Colorado River are in the Mojave population while those east of the river in Arizona are labeled as Sonoran population -- but not in the Arizona species, which is why the desert tortoise comes under federal protection in Nevada, but not Arizona where state laws prevail.

"The reason (the center) is here is because we don't want the animal just released into the wild," McDermott said. "It's not a bad thing (to release them into the wild), but we don't want URTD to spread."

The center's director of 15 years went on to explain what happens to a tortoise when it arrives at the center.

"One option is that it can be a quarantined animal until we take blood samples and know its (URTD) status," McDermott said. "If the tests are negative, it can be used for research, translocation or it can enter the adoption program, which sees about 20 to 25 tortoises adopted each year."

McDermott estimated that at any given time about 1,500 tortoises are held in pens and that about 1,200 are picked up each year and brought to the DTCC.

"Another option is translocation to a 10-mile stretch on the west side of I-15 between Jean and (Primm) that's been used since 1957," she said. "In April, we did a small release there where there have been 6,500 tortoises released."

McDermott said that area has become nearly saturated with tortoise translocations and that another site is needed.

"They're talking about the Boulder City Conservation Easement as being the place that will probably end up being the spot where they'll do more translocations," she said. "I foresee the Boulder City easement getting it."

In the early years, research at the DTCC had been a major program.

Biology projects conducted by Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species in San Diego, the National Zoological Park run by the Smithsonian Institution in the nation's capital and a Transmission of Upper Respiratory Tract Disease study by the University of Florida all occurred at the center, but research has been all but forgotten.

"When it comes to research, there's been absolutely nothing in the last two years except for this fall when there will be canine tracking for tortoises for two weeks," McDermott said. "We had a URTD study being conducted by two students who quit and left things hanging, so everything is pretty much on hiatus now."

For more information about the DTCC or about tortoises, call Betty Burge, chairman of the Tortoise Group, at 739-8043.

The Tortoise Group also is conducting a tortoise workshop at 1 p.m. July 15 at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society, 700 Twin Lakes Drive in Lorenzi Park. There will be information and tortoise craft projects for children.