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by Sue and Roger Kolar
Mojave Max the tortoise and his female friends moved into
their new habitat just in time for the grand opening of the new
visitor center on April 10th. Max emerged from his burrow at
The Friends Cultural Resource Team received the prestigious ‘Making a Di erence on the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center (DTCC) on March 30th
while most the females came out a few days earlier. The
Public Lands’ Award from the Bureau of Land Management in recognition of their females quickly adjusted to their new habitat
ongoing e orts to document and preserve the cultural and historical patrolling every inch, exploring each of the

treasures at Red Rock Canyon. The team was presented with the only group eight burrows and nibbling on freshly
planted cactus.

award with nominations received from across the country.

Since the committee was reformed in 2001, the thirty one members of the
Friends Cultural Resources Team have volunteered over 7,900 hours and
completed documentation of 18 sites. Their work includes monitoring
and recording pre-historic archaeological sites, including Native The tortoises rely on volunteers to prepare delicious meals of
American roasting pits, rock shelters and rock art locations and moistened tortoise chow, ll their water dishes and

historic archaeological sites, such as the Old Spanish Trail. clean the habitat. Twice a month, volunteers soak each tortoise in
water to increase their hydration.
The recording process begins with mapping the area to be Even though the females and Max have been kept in separate
documented. These areas are identi ed by a unique habitats, two tortoises, Maxine and Lucie, laid eggs under a tree near the walkway,
much to the delight of visitors and sta . BLM Wildlife Biologists moved the eggs to
Smithsonian Institute site number. For example, the red the DTCC so they can hatch safely.
hand-prints at Willow Spring have a site number of
26Ck486. Committee members then measure each panel, There are some new protocols in the habitat. Everyone who enters the habitat must wear booties to reduce the chances of
providing GPS location, artifact location (boulder, cli face, contaminating the habitat with whatever is on our shoes. Also, habitat volunteers must sanitize their hands when handling a
tortoise to prevent the spread of disease. Finally, the tortoises are only allowed to eat specially formulated tortoise chow and
etc.), slope of the work surface, type of rock (sandstone, other foods provided by the biologist, such as wild owers.
limestone, etc.), Petroglyph (chipped into the rock
surface) or Pictograph (painted), panel orientation, Donations to Friends of Red Rock Canyon pay for the booties, tortoise
chow and other equipment it takes to keep the tortoises happy and
destructive agents and other details. As a healthy. Max and the girls say thanks for your support. If you haven't

prelude to the time spent in the eld, the team has seen the new habitat, now is the time, as the tortoises will soon head
into their burrows to brumate (reptile hibernation) from the end of
completed extensive training o ered by the Nevada October until March or April.
Rock Art Foundation.
The eld work is just a portion of the

documentation process. When the location has Additional photos and video of the tortoises can be viewed
on Facebook on the Friends of Red Rock Canyon page.
been documented and veri ed on-site, the
photos and the drawn-to-scale eld pages
are turned over to the Inking Committee

headed by Martha Burk. The inking team,
working with archival papers, inks and
light boxes, begin the labor
intensive process of transferring the eld

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