Spring 2008 Desert Tortoise Habitat-Western Mojave Desert

All photos © Annie Lancaster, TortoiseAid

PLEASE NOTE:   This is NOT habitat the Fort Irwin tortoises were released to.

This is habitat 50 miles southwest of Fort Irwin.

Elevation about 4,000 feet.    March 2008

Fremont Phacelia, Tickseed Coreopsis, Goldfields, Veatch's Blazing Star

Same as above

Native Tidy Tip, Tickseed Coreopsis, Fremont Phacelia, Desert Phlox, Goldfields

Goldfields galore, Joshua Tree, Pencil Cholla Cactus, Checkered Fiddleneck, Numerous shrubs

Goldfields, Creosote, beginnings of Desert Dandelion

                                                  Little Gold Poppy                                                                                                                       Fremont Phacelia

Cream Cups

Indian Paint Brush (growing out of a "host" bush, very common)

White Tidy Tips, Spanish Dagger, Tickseed Coreopsis

Stupid herder illegally grazing his sheep

So, you think grazing livestock in the desert is OK? What is left for desert tortoises when livestock are finished?   NOTHING!

Desert Sage

Brown Eyed Primrose

Miniature Lupine

Notch Leaved or Blue Phacelia

Freckled Milkvetch

Miniature (Mojave) Lupine

Desert Yucca- Yucca schidigera

Mojave Aster

More coming, stay tuned!