"Desert Tortoise and Eagle Mountain Landfill."

The Desert Tortoise and the Landfill Threat

No landfill is capable of keeping its trash from blowing into the surrounding area! No landfill is capable of keeping ravens away and juvenile tortoises with soft shells are easy prey for ravens!

When tortoises are young and vulnerable, they are eaten by many predators, but ravens, now one of their primary predators, have caused more than 50 percent of juvenile Desert Tortoise deaths in some areas of the Mojave Desert. Studies indicate that raven predation has caused localized serious reductions in the number of young tortoises surviving to adulthood.

Ravens are known to make heavy use of landfills. No bird species other than ravens are known to eat juvenile tortoises in any great quantities. Scientists have found that the riskiest areas for young tortoises, a 100 percent predation risk, were around landfills which have dense concentrations of ravens. In spite of an abundance of other kinds of raven food at landfills the birds still hunted in nearby areas.

In addition to the raven threat are the trains. The Center for Biological Diversity in Idyllwild alleges the Bureau of Land Management is not enforcing safeguards to prevent tortoises from being killed by trains that would carry trash to the proposed Eagle Mountain Landfill.

The Biological Diversity Center has joined forces with landowners near the proposed landfill on the eastern edge of Joshua Tree National Park. The landowners oppose the project on many levels and have engaged its proponents in legal and political clashes for years. One challenge accuses the owners of a dormant rail line going to the proposed landfill - formerly the site of Kaiser Iron Ore Mine - of neglecting to maintain tunnels and "ballasts" that would allow tortoises to safely cross the tracks.

Environmentalists remain opposed to the project, which when operating at maximum capacity, will be capable of accepting 20,000 tons of Southern California trash per day for 100 years. It would utilize approximately 650 acres of space, including the filling of over 2,000 acres of canyon and other lands, much of which is undisturbed. Small pieces of plastic and other trash can cause tortoises to get sick and die.