Validation and Development of a Certification Program for Using K9s to Survey Desert Tortoises

Abstract

This project demonstrated the ability of Desert Tortoise Canine (DTK9) teams to locate Mojave Desert tortoises in the field at natural population densities, with an emphasis on finding small size classes. DTK9s were shown to be successful at this task. DTK9 team technology was developed to assist Department of Defense (DoD) installations and other agencies to maintain environmental compliance and support delisting efforts for the federal and state listed Mojave Desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Delisting the desert tortoise would alleviate conflict between training and testing on installations and environmental regulations. Delisting would reduce costs associated with regulatory compliance such as surveying, monitoring, translocation, and Head Start programs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA551876

Entities

People

  • Ken Nussear
  • Mary Cablk
  • Russell S. Harmon
  • Todd C. Esque

Organizations

  • Desert Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cost Estimates
  • Demography
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Ecology
  • Endangered Species
  • Environmental Protection
  • Fish
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Habitats
  • Measuring Instruments
  • Reliability
  • Students
  • Telemetry Equipment
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Wildlife

Readers

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