NPR: To save the Mojave Desert tortoise, protect the desert landscape, researchers say
Researchers are working to save a tortoise that has been in the American Southwest for millions of years - the Mojave Desert tortoise, to be specific. It's considered a threatened species, but in California, there are now extra protections in place, as Nate Perez from NPR's Climate Desk reports.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS CRUNCHING)
NATE PEREZ, BYLINE: Patrick Emblidge guides me through the Mojave Desert, near the town of Joshua Tree east of LA. We walk past thorny shrubs and the town's namesake trees.
PATRICK EMBLIDGE: What we'll do is go up this canyon.
PEREZ: Emblidge is with the conservation organization Mojave Desert Land Trust. Before that, he researched desert tortoises at the U.S. Geological Survey in the Southwest.
EMBLIDGE: And there's a lot of really nice tortoise burrows up in there.