Surveys at the Ivanpah solar site in the Mojave predicted at most 32 desert tortoises, and crews then unearthed close to 1,000, halted construction for three months and spent 56 million dollars relocating them, with one juvenile carried off to an eagle nest, microchip still pinging
Before the bulldozers entered the Ivanpah Valley in California’s Mojave, just before the Nevada line, biologists walked around and counted. Their first survey of the 3,500-acre footprint found 16 desert tortoises. Refined estimates raised the likely total to a few dozen, with 32 commonly cited as the upper limit. Federal regulators wrote the permits accordingly: … Read more
