New guidance - stop and help desert tortoises cross road if safe to do so

  • Published
  • By Heidi Gesiriech
  • 95th Air Base Wing Environmental Management
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- --  The way a desert tortoise was killed on base a few weeks ago has prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to change its recommendation for motorists travelling on base. If you see a desert tortoise on a roadway, help it across the road if it is safe to do so.

In June, an adult female tortoise was run over and killed by a vehicle on Mercury Blvd.

"The incident occurred when someone who was driving along Mercury spotted a tortoise in the road and pulled off to the side," said Cher Keaton, project manager for the Edwards' Desert Tortoise Head Start program. "When a second car came along, the driver of the first car began waving her arms from the side of the road in an attempt to alert the second driver. Unfortunately, the second driver was distracted by the person waving and didn't see the tortoise before hitting it."

In response to this situation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has requested that Edwards biologists make a slight, but important, change to the mandatory desert tortoise awareness briefings that everyone working on base is required to attend.

"Until now, the training has left it up to the individual to decide whether or not to move a tortoise based on how busy the road was," Keaton said. "We are now adding a strong message to take immediate action. If it is safe to do so, move the tortoise off of the road."

Keaton and other biologists stress safety for the driver must come first. But they, along with USFWS representatives, want drivers to be proactive and pick up and move the tortoise if they can.

Proper procedures for moving a tortoise are to pick it up gently using both hands and placing each hand on each side of the tortoise. Raise it carefully, keeping it level and low to the ground. Always move the tortoise in the same direction it was headed, and move it approximately 100 feet away from the edge of the road. Place it in a shady area if possible.

"They're very stubborn creatures; they're going where they want to go," Keaton said. "If you move a tortoise away from the direction it was headed, it will turn around and head right back to the road."

Try to avoid frightening the tortoise. When scared, tortoises will sometimes empty their bladders as a defense mechanism. This is serious because it can result in the eventual death of the tortoise if it is unable to replenish the water quickly enough. Replenishing that water is difficult to do during most of the year in the desert. However, biologists say that a tortoise losing its water is much better than it being crushed by a car.

Anyone observing or assisting a desert tortoise is requested to call biologists at Environmental Management to report the location and details of the situation. This information is crucial because if there is a continuing problem, the tortoise may need to be safely relocated to an area farther away from the road.

The desert tortoise has been federally listed as a threatened species since April 1990 due to a sharp decline in population. This listing under the Endangered Species Act prohibits anyone from harming, capturing or killing a tortoise, and the penalties can involve steep fines and even jail time.

Tortoises are most active from March through October, spending the majority of their time during the alternate months hibernating in underground burrows. The life span of a desert tortoise is very similar to that of a human--a fully grown adult ranges in age from 25 to 100 years old. Reaching adulthood for a desert tortoise is a significant accomplishment considering the predation and loss of habitat that these creatures face on a daily basis, biologists say.

"This is not a permit or exemption from the prohibitions of Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act. However, having people stand by while an animal of a federally listed species is about to be killed is not productive," said Ray Bransfield, senior biologist with the USFWS. "I think having anyone on base be able to move desert tortoises when they are in trouble is truly the best course of action. It is simply the right thing to do."

The Air Force and USFWS will continue to follow the standard practices of the Endangered Species Act to review base programs and activities, but this change in policy will allow residents and workers at Edwards to take an active role in protecting desert tortoises as they travel on base.

According to Keaton, this change in policy is effective immediately. Any questions can be directed to Environmental Management at 277-1401. Biologists suggest that base workers and residents program the Environmental Management main number into their cell phones so it's handy in the event of spotting a desert tortoise on the road.