The 51st Annual Meeting and Symposium 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 25-27, 2026. 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. The program will be exciting, challenging, and full of new information! We are fortunate in 2026 to be located close to the four state boundaries and a backdrop of many ongoing research projects. The program will be posted on the website 30 days prior to the Symposium.
From aridification of the North American Southwest and tortoise population catastrophes to the promises of juvenile headstarting and the intricacies of habitat preservation in a rapidly developing environment, the 51st Annual Symposium of the Desert Tortoise Council continues a tradition of world class tortoise conservation science. Jason Smerdon from the Columbia Climate School will describe how human-caused climate change is contributing to the severity of megadrought in the 21st century. Aridification is another stressor contributing to decline of Agassiz’s desert tortoise. Jacqueline D. Litzgus will expand the theme of human impacts to ecosystems in the context of population catastrophes affecting freshwater turtles. Brian Todd, Brian Henen, Emily Thomas, and Endi Piovesana will report on the encouraging results of juvenile headstarting followed by a session on habitat connectivity and conservation within the proposed developments of Ivanpah Valley. Mercy Vaughn will take us to Isla Tiburón in the Sea of Cortez to see how Morafka’s desert tortoise has fared over the past 24-years and Tamara Rioja will describe how Bolson tortoises create microhabitats for many other vertebrate species in the Chihuahuan Desert. New technology and techniques including aerial surveys, accelerometer-enabled trackers, specialized wildlife cameras, road crossing structures, exclusion fences, and spatial models will be presented in a session on methods along with results of long-term plot data, diseases, pathogens, genetics, and translocation research. We will celebrate the life and achievements of Dr. Glenn R. Stewart, a founding member of the Desert Tortoise Council, as we seek to carry on his legacy.
Early registration through January 15th!
Palace Station Hotel Las Vegas
Utilize the link/button below to reserve your room via the online Passkey reservation system. You may also call the hotel reservation line at (800) 634-3101 and use the code PCITORT to reserve your room(s). All room reservations must be made before the cutoff date of Friday, January 23, 2026 to receive the discounted group rate.
RASP Informational Meeting
The Mojave desert tortoise Recovery and Sustainment Partnership (RASP) is a collaborative desert tortoise conservation effort in the western Mojave which includes many partners, including several NGOs, the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and multiple DOD installations. Please join Clay Noss, RASP Coordinator, and other RASP partners from 5-6PM on 2/24 (the hour preceding the pre-conference mixer) to network and learn more about RASP.
Pre-Conference Mixer
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 Tuesday evening, February 24, 2026, from 6-9pm. Please plan to attend as it is a great time to reconnect with friends, to network with new contacts.
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 51st Annual Desert Tortoise Council Symposium. The business meeting will be held at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.
51st 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.
Annual Field Trip – February 24, 2026
Come on out and talk the talk with your friends that walked the walk in the Ivanpah Valley. The greater Ivanpah Valley, straddling the Nevada and California boundary and about 30 miles southwest of Las Vegas on the I-15, was already one of the most studied desert tortoise focal areas across the Mojave Desert when in the early 2000s proposals for solar energy development spurred intensive debate about the compatibility of renewable energy and the future of tortoise populations. In response, baseline monitoring was incorporated into research with renewed interest.
51st 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.
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 2026 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.