The Desert Tortoise at Fort Irwin, California. A Federal Threatened Species.
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Defense has the legal responsibility for managing the natural resources on its training lands, and the Department of the Army has made a commitment to become exemplary in issues of environmental compliance. Properly designed and implemented inventory, assessment, and monitoring programs are important components of environmental compliance. In earlier work, a statistically rigorous and quantitative assessment and monitoring program for arid and semiarid ecosystems was developed. The program was implemented in 1983 at Fort Irwin, CA, to monitor perennial woody vegetation and vertebrate populations. Data from that program, and ongoing work by the author, have produced analytical capabilities to assess the effects on the Mojave Desert ecosystem of Army training activities at the National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin. Such an assessment is needed to determine environmental mitigation and management priorities, as well as future monitoring and research needs. This report describes the geophysical characteristics and environment of Fort Irwin, describes the Army training mission at the NTC, and summarizes the effects of the military training mission at Fort Irwin on woody vegetation and vertebrate fauna. Priorities for environmental mitigation, management, research, and monitoring at NTC-based on the author's cumulative work in this area-are discussed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA299969
Entities
People
- Anthony J. Krzysik
Organizations
- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory