0 percent in the last 50 years - and in some areas of the Mojave declining 50 percent in seven years - environmentalists were able to get the tortoise emergency status on the federal list of endangered species in 1989. The emergency listing became permanent on April 2, 1990.
Estimates were once as high as 1,000 tortoises per square mile in certain areas. Environmentalists hold that only 60,000 remain while opponents say the number may be as high as 1 million.
Several organizations hold that the dramatic losses in tortoises are due to a respiratory disease, exacerbated in part by the release of captive tortoises into the wild. Growing coalitions of so-called "wise-users miners, ranchers, bikers, and off-road vehicle users - oppose the move as a bureaucratic smokescreen to prohibit legitimate use of public lands.
"This action is unfair and not founded on scientific evidence," says Mr. Connelley. He says studies have shown that the tortoise numbers reached their height in the 1960s when livestock numbers were at their height because tortoises thrive on cow manure. Users of public land in Western states have been buffeted in recent years by legislation introduced by US Rep. Michael Synar (D) of Oklahoma to charge grazing rates on federal lands commensurate with that by private lessees.
"This is one more attempt to turn the planet into a national park," Connelley says. "If we keep putting restrictions on our ability to produce, we are going to find ourselves more and more dependent on foreign sources." Some compromise
Slone says the BLM is trying to negotiate with some ranchers to help them shift grazing patterns to parcels where the tortoise is not so threatened. Of approximately 7,800 cattle affected in the decision, less than 1,000 have no other grazing alternatives, he says. Several ranchers have been granted one-year grace periods.
And the BLM has already been criticized by some environmental groups for not going far enough, soon enough. "We are trying to reduce the impact on tortoises in such a way as to minimize impact on ranchers as well," Slone says.