Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) is a priority species for conservation in Clark County, Nevada. It is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and is a covered species under the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP). The recovery program for desert tortoises requires range-wide, long-term monitoring to determine whether recovery goals are met; specifically, population trends within recovery units need to increase for a period of 25 years to warrant delisting. In 1999 the Desert Tortoise Management Oversight Group endorsed the use of line distance sampling to estimate range-wide desert tortoise density. The COUNTY desires to engage in conservation actions as identified in the Clark County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP), including: monitoring desert tortoise populations; tracking trends in the status of desert tortoise in Clark County; and furthering the objectives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan. The purpose of this project is to conduct desert tortoise monitoring in the form of line distance sampling across Clark County, Nevada, and adjacent areas.
