Contact: Monique Henderson(909) 335-5228Ref. # 02-69
March 25, 2002
RESEARCHERS EXAMINE COHABITATION OF TORTOISES AND TANKSA team of researchers from the University of Redlands will study the desert tortoise during the next four years, working to determine how the proposed expansion of the Army's Fort Irwin National Training Center would affect the threatened species and its habitat.
The U.S. Department of Defense has provided a $4 million grant for the scientists to study the desert tortoise. Expansion of the military training center, located in the Mojave Desert, has been slowed because land slated for use is prime tortoise country.
"Our role is to provide good science," said Jill S. Heaton, desert tortoise project manager. "We're an outside player, a third party with no stake in which way it goes."
The research is being done through the Redlands Institute, an umbrella organization that attracts and oversees university research. The institute currently is completing the Salton Sea Database Project, which was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Researchers, including university professors and students, will map tortoise locations and conduct other research this spring. For one project, the team will examine 25 years of desert tortoise research, creating a summary of key data.
"We'll point out gaps in the research," explained Heaton.
Researchers will rely heavily on geographic information systems to organize and analyze their data. The revolutionary computer software, commonly called GIS, allows users to merge maps with data, revealing relationships that were previously hidden in the numbers and text.
For more information on the project, contact Jill Heaton at (909) 335-5383.
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