Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Mojave Desert Tortoise

Fri, Sep 2, 2011 (9:55 a.m.)

The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) was constructed in 1990 in a southwest part of the Las Vegas Valley. The DTCC is contained within 222 fenced acres within an 11,014-acre area that was set aside in the Bureau of Land Management’s Las Vegas Resource Management Plan as the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center Management Area. While the DTCC has hosted several research projects, the primary function of the DTCC was a holding facility for formerly wild tortoises removed from the path of development and for tortoises from Clark County’s tortoise pick-up service (mostly former pets). In 2009 a new partnership was established between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the BLM, Nevada Department of Wildlife, and the Conservation Centers for Species Survival through which the San Diego Zoo began managing the DTCC to increase its value to conservation and recovery through improved husbandry, research, training, and education.

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