ST. GEORGE — The 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium has kicked off at St. George’s Dixie Center, featuring expert speakers, a raffle, an auction and a banquet dinner Friday evening.
The hybrid event, offering both virtual and in-person attendance, began Wednesday, Feb. 22, with a pre-conference mixer and will continue until Saturday afternoon.
The symposium’s host is the Desert Tortoise Council, a nonprofit dedicated to the survival of desert tortoises in their historical ranges.
Richard A. Fridell with the Utah Division of Wildlife’s Washington County Field Office joined a lineup of local and visiting speakers, presenting on various topics, including genetics and conservation.
Fridell’s presentation focused on collaborative partnerships as the “key to conservation planning in the nation’s fastest-growing and Utah’s most biologically diverse county.”
Washington County is located at the intersection of the Mojave Desert, Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau, contributing to the “tremendous variety of different habitats and tremendous diversity of flora and fauna,” Fridell said.
“And what it creates are these landscapes and species assemblages that are found nowhere else,” he said.
Fridell said everything that makes Washington County “extremely attractive” for plants and animals also appeals to humans. Currently, the area boasts approximately 200,000 permanent residents with about 60,000 temporary visitors, short-term renters and others who call the area home part-time.
This “tremendous boom” requires land development and the associated infrastructure, which can create potential conflicts between local species and human activity, Fridell said. Finding socially and politically acceptable solutions has required local, state and federal collaboration.
Partnerships “provide building mechanisms” for accountability, review and transparency. For instance, the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve was established in 1996 via a collaboration between county, state and federal stakeholders, and over 60,000 acres were set aside to protect desert tortoise habitat.
“None of this would have been possible without the broad-based, local, federal, state planning partnership between all these folks working together to implement it,” he said.
Other Southern Utah experts have contributed to sessions scheduled for Friday and Saturday, including Red Cliff Desert Reserve’s Cameron Rognan, who worked with Resi Solutions’ Matthew Bandy to create a presentation for Friday afternoon about surveying Mojave desert tortoises with AI-assisted drones.
The reserve’s Ammon Teare will also discuss how “citizen science and Indigenous partners expand tortoise outreach in Southern Utah” at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Other topics will include climate change’s impact on tortoise populations, tortoise management and recovery and various technologies utilized for conservation and research.
Additionally, attendees can participate in a raffle for various prizes and an auction until Friday night, according to the event website. That evening, Rognan will also present “amazing photographs” and discuss reptile behavior at the 6 p.m. banquet, after which the Desert Tortoise Council will announce the event’s award and photo contest winners.
The event’s program and relevant abstracts are available on the Desert Tortoise Council’s website. Those interested in attendee the Desert Tortoise Symposium’s remaining days can register here. A single-day registration costs $170.
Photo Gallery
Desert Tortoise symposium attendees get snacks, St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News The Utah Division of Wildlife Resource's Richard Fridell speaks at the 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News The 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium was hosted at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News The 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium was hosted at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News Attendees of the Desert Tortoise Symposium view booths and activities, St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News The 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium was hosted at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News Toy tortoises at a booth set up for the 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News The 48th annual Desert Tortoise Symposium was hosted at the Dixie Center in St. George, Utah, Feb. 23, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News
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