Introductory Course & Field Workshop

We are offering two Introductory training opportunities in 2021:

Online Lecture Course: Introduction to the Mojave Desert Tortoise

Field Techniques for the Mojave Desert Tortoise. Open only to those who complete the online lecture course in 2020 or 2021.

Click the buttons below to find out more and register.

Find out more about our other training programs.

2021 46th Annual Symposium

The Desert Tortoise Council teamed up with the Turtle Survival Alliance to organize and implement the virtual 46th Annual Desert Tortoise Council Symposium in February 2021. The program included plenary speakers, multiple sessions on research and news affecting tortoises and their conservation, and awards.

About the DTC

The Desert Tortoise Council was established in 1975 to promote conservation of the desert tortoise in the deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico. The Council is a non-profit organization comprised of hundreds of professionals and laypersons who share a common concern for desert tortoises in the wild and a commitment to advancing the public’s understanding of the species. Click the button below to learn more about what we do and what you can do to help!

About Desert Tortoises

The desert tortoise species are native inhabitants of several southwestern ecosystems, including the Sonoran, Colorado, and Mojave Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and tropical deciduous forests and thornscrub in northwestern Mexico. These tortoises are long-lived reptiles, as important to their ecosystems as their own environments are to them. Though the desert tortoises are well-adapted to their environments, it’s becoming increasingly clear that they’re unable to cope with the fast-paced and increasingly widespread and intensive changes humans have wrought on southwestern ecosystems in recent decades. Click the button below to learn more and watch a documentary about the plight of the desert tortoise.

Grants

Grant funding is available to researchers for appropriate projects benefiting the conservation of desert tortoises. Awards are presented in support of research that contributes to the understanding, management and conservation of tortoises of the genus Gopherus in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Funding is available to students working with North American Gopherus tortoises for assistance with their travel costs to attend and participate at future Desert Tortoise Council Symposia.

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Donate to the DTC

Donate online via our Wild Apricot portal or mail in your donation to the DTC!