‘Ravens Vs. Tortoises’

Thank you for the excellent editorial “Ravens Vs. Tortoises” (Jan. 23) on the raven-control project initiated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and the California Department of Fish and Game. As the editorial indicates, the service believes that the numbers of ravens using portions of desert tortoise habitat need to be reduced so that young tortoises have an opportunity to reach adulthood.

You have also correctly noted that ravens are not the only problem facing the desert tortoise, indicating that control of off-road vehicle use would also benefit the species. However, more than ravens and ATCs need to be controlled. In addition to numerous housing developments being constructed in the Palmdale-Rosamond portion of the tortoise’s range, loss of habitat has occurred through the development of solar energy plants, utility lines, sheep and cattle grazing, and mining activities. Projects that my staff are currently working on include a low-level radiation waste disposal site and the expansion of the Army’s Fort Irwin National Training Center. These projects could destroy hundreds of square miles of tortoise habitat.

I would also like to take this opportunity to correct one factual error in your editorial. The service has not proposed the tortoise for listing. We are still evaluating the need to list the species.

In response to a petition to list the tortoise from the Desert Tortoise Council in 1984, the service issued a finding that listing of the species was warranted, but precluded by other listing proposals of higher priority. In other words, personnel and funding limitations have not permitted us to develop a listing for the tortoise. These findings must be updated annually. The priority for listing the tortoise becomes higher as a decline in tortoise numbers and habitat continues.

The fact that the California Fish and Game Commission has recently voted against providing protection to the desert tortoise by making it a listed threatened species is not viewed as a positive step in interagency cooperation to save the tortoise. In fact, the vote only increases the pressure on the federal agencies, the BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service, to demonstrate that protection, not just planning, is being accomplished for the tortoise.

NANCY M. KAUFMAN

Field Supervisor

Fish and Wildlife Service

Laguna Niguel