The Desert Tortoise Council is excited to announce the 50th Annual Meeting and Symposium, which will be a hybrid event (both in-person and virtual attendance options) that will be held at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, from February 25-28, 2025. A field trip is scheduled the day before the meeting on February 24. The Symposium will include a plenary address, invited and featured speakers, and contributed papers and posters. As befits the 50th celebratory year, the program will be exciting, challenging, and full of new information! We are fortunate in 2025 to be located close to the four state boundaries and a backdrop of many ongoing research projects. The symposium will be full of papers on desert tortoises, effects of climate warming and drying, tortoise demography and connectivity of populations, human effects on habitats, and the latest techniques for surveys, and methods for evaluating finding of the tortoise species. Dr. William Rees from the University of British Columbia at Vancouver will speak on a critical topic, climate overshoot, a subject of concern to all of us. Dr. Rees recently published a paper in World. Dr. Kristina Drake and Corey Mitchell, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, are organizing a session on demographic techniques and findings. Head-starting and translocations will be another topic of interest. We are especially pleased to have speakers on the latest topics of interest for the Sonoran tortoise and Texas tortoises, as well as the latest on releases of head-started Bolson tortoises in the United States. We will share more details about plenary speakers and the program in early January. The program will be posted on the website 30 days prior to the Symposium.
All room reservations must be made before the cutoff date of Friday, January 24, 2025 to receive the discounted group rate. Please click the Hotel Reservations button below.
Late registration rates kick in after January 15th so register now!
Pre-Conference Mixer
Southern Nevada Environmental, Inc. (SNEI) and Playa Environmental have generously co-sponsored the pre-conference mixer for the 2025 Annual Symposium. This event is the perfect way to kick off the Symposium. The pre-conference mixer will be held at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino on the 2nd floor near the Grand Ballroom (find the escalator near Wing-Stop) on Monday evening, February 24, 2025, from 6-9pm. Please plan to attend as it is a great time to reconnect with friends, to network with new contacts, and to thank SNEI and Playa Environmental for their generosity and support of the Desert Tortoise Council.
Tuesday Night “Western Soirée Mixer!”
Take a step back in time at our Western Soirée Mixer on Tuesday, February 25th for a night of fun, music, and mingling. Whether you’re a cowboy, cowgirl, or just love the Wild West, this is the perfect chance to show off your best Western wear or come dressed in your favorite desert tortoise themed costume.
We’ll have a rootin’ tootin’ good time with food, drinks, and a chance to meet folks as wild and free as the West itself. This celebration was made possible by the generous support and creativity of Vita Sheehy.
Giddy up and get ready for a night of unforgettable memories!
H.A.T. Refresher Kickoff
The USFWS’s Desert Tortoise Recovery Office and the Desert Tortoise Council would like to announce a Health Assessment Training Refresher discussion on Wednesday 2/26 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in association with the 50th Annual Desert Tortoise Council Symposium. This is a CLOSED SESSION only for biologists that have previously taken the Health Assessment Training workshop (as early as 2011). Feel free to spread the word among your colleagues that attended the HAT in the past.
The agenda is still being set, but we plan to discuss protocols, take your questions, make note of concerns that you express, and describe what we are envisioning for you to be approved to continue conducting health assessments on desert tortoises in the future. We are expecting to offer refresher materials for you to review online (available after we meet in February) as well as an online test. We want to hear from you as we develop the refresher materials and look forward to seeing many of you in person soon!
Direct any questions about Health Assessment Training to email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Annual Business Meeting
The Annual Business Meeting of the Desert Tortoise Council will be held in a hybrid format (i.e., in person and virtually) in conjunction with the 50th Annual Desert Tortoise Council Symposium. The business meeting will be held at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada. Click the button below to find the agenda, see what will be discussed, and what will be voted on!
50th Symposium Sponsors
Please consider sponsoring the annual Symposium of the Desert Tortoise Council. These one-time donations go directly to defraying the costs of the Annual Symposium. For additional information on sponsorship levels and to download the sponsorship form, please click the button below.
Thank you for your support!
Annual Field Trip – February 24, 2025
We will visit two recent burn sites, both within the Mojave National Preserve (MNP). The first site will be within the burn area of the York fire which burned 93,078 acres in August of 2023. The second stop will be within the burn area of the Dome fire which burned 43,273 acres in August 2020. In addition to the conversation upon arrival at each site we will spend an hour or so walking either on your own or with the trip leaders. Topics of discussion may include stats of the fires, fire-fighting techniques, revegetation efforts and success of those efforts-especially the Joshua tree plantings, rainfall amounts, return of mammals and herps to the burn areas, and growth of native versus non-native plants at all sites.
Annual Photo Contest
Each year we encourage our membership to submit their best wildlife and nature photographs for a chance to win cash prizes, as well as to aid the Desert Tortoise Council in educating the public and advocating desert conservation through photography.
ONLY digital submissions will be accepted and the absolute deadline is 5PM PST Friday February 21, 2025. No late entries will be accepted!
Symposium Raffle & Auction
The symposium will include various types of raffles and an auction as a fundraiser so the Council can continue to expand its conservation efforts for the tortoise. The raffle is only open to those who register for the Symposium. With the hybrid nature of the 2025 symposium, the Council will be holding both in-person and online raffles during the symposium, so all registrants can have the opportunity to win great prizes. Raffle tickets for in-person registrants can be purchased at the Symposium venue. For virtual participants, a link to purchase raffle tickets for E-Gift card prizes will be provided.
Health & Wellness Protocol
The Desert Tortoise Council would like to ensure that all persons attending the Symposium “in person” are safe and well by implementing the following protocol when you are in the Palace Station Convention space.
- If you feel ill, have recently tested positive for Covid, or have symptom(s) of Covid, influenza, RSV infection, or another infectious disease, please do not attend the symposium in person and please follow the CDC COVID isolation procedures until you are no longer infectious. If you are unable to attend the symposium because you test positive, you can switch between in-person and virtual participation. If you are unable to attend virtually, cancel your registration and request a refund of the registration fee.
- For the safety of all attendees, please wear a mask (preferable KN95) and when possible, practice social distancing. The exception to wearing a mask would be when presenting your talk, eating, or drinking. The Council will have masks and hand sanitizer available.
More announcements will be shared in the coming days.