The Mohave Ground Squirrel at Fort Irwin, California. A State Threatened Species.

Abstract

Properly designed and implemented inventory, assessment, and monitoring programs are important components of environmental compliance for U.S. Army training installations. In earlier work, a statistically rigorous and quantitative assessment and monitoring program for arid and semiarid ecosystems was developed and initiated in the Mojave Desert. The program was implemented in March 1983 at Fort Irwin, CA, the Army's National Training Center (NTC), to monitor woody perennial vegetation and vertebrate populations. Data from that program, and ongoing work by the author, have produced analytical capabilities to quantitatively assess the effects of training activities on ecosystems at landscape scales. Such assessments are needed to determine environmental mitigation and management priorities, and future monitoring and research needs. This report discusses the ecology and biology of the Mohave Ground Squirrel-a State threatened species-summarizes the geophysical characteristics and environment of Fort Irwin, and describes the Army training mission at the NTC. Priorities are discussed for environmental management and mitigation, based on sound ecological principles and the author's cumulative research on the Mojave Desert ecosystem.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA299946

Entities

People

  • Anthony J. Krzysik

Organizations

  • Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Animals
  • Army Training
  • Body Temperature
  • Body Weight
  • California
  • Climate Change
  • Ecology
  • Ecosystems
  • Environment
  • Geography
  • Habitats
  • Jet Propulsion
  • Mammals
  • Military Training
  • Tracked Vehicles
  • Training
  • Wildlife

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Wetland-Land-Environmental Management.