Did you know that the US Geological Survey has filmmakers on staff? One of these guys has made a new film, The Heat is On: Desert Tortoises and Survival, and it’s worth checking out. Despite quoting the Glenn Frey song in its title, I’m sorry to report that the music doesn’t have 80′s sax solos and the video has no Axel Foley in sight.
Instead, the film, which you can watch online, looks into the reported 95% mortality rate among young desert tortoises, explains the USGS studies in the Mojave Desert, and finds reasons why the turtles are struggling. They include: urban development, utility corridors, highway mortality, off-road vehicle use and recreational activities. The Desert Tortoise Council had its annual symposium on these issues in Orange County earlier this year. But it’s instructive to think of these threats as interconnected: it’s possible, for example, that climate change is increasing the threat of wildfire, and wildfire allows invasive plants to take hold in the desert, threatening the turtles. And urban development sends utilities public and private scurrying inland in southern California looking for energy sources and transmission corridors along which that power can go to houses.
A USGS press release makes these points:
“The challenge is finding the right balance to be able to achieve our alternative energy goals while not sacrificing the native landscape and our natural heritage at the same time,” said Roy Averill-Murray, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service desert tortoise recovery coordinator.
“The tortoise tells us so much about the health of the desert,” said Kristin Berry, USGS research wildlife biologist in “The Heat is On.” “It’s a symbol of the wellbeing of our environment, and for that reason alone we should be concerned about its wellbeing and that it thrives.”
Over a 10-year period from 1996 to 2006, the federal government spent $93 million on research and management of the desert tortoise. But Averill Murray says there’s no such thing as a silver bullet for the tortoise.
