Aspen Biologists Attend Desert Tortoise Training

During the last week of October and the first week of November 2022, Aspen Environmental Group sent three biologists to the Desert Tortoise Council’s training on the Introduction to The Mojave Desert Tortoise. Desert tortoise is both state and federally listed as a threatened species and any project with a potential to impact this species require protocol-levels surveys. This training provides the biologists with the fundamentals of desert tortoise biology, ecology, habitat preferences, life history, and health, as well as a summary of the threats this species faces today. The training includes a field portion that teaches the biologists to identify desert tortoise and their signs in the field. This training provides the information needed for the biologists to conduct the protocol-level surveys and monitor them on project sites.

Aspen biologists Larysa Bulbenko, Hannah Russell, and Nikolai Starzak add to the extensive list of Aspen biologists that have attended this training and are qualified to conduct desert tortoise surveys. All three biologists have already been in the field with additional Aspen biologists surveying desert tortoises and monitoring construction with the information they learned at the training.