Nonprofit group Friends of Nevada Wilderness, along with federal, state and county agency volunteers, plan to establish “seed islands” around wildlife guzzlers (self-filling watering facilities) to restore desert tortoise habitat on fire-scarred lands in Nevada.
“We’re taking advantage of birds and small mammals to disperse seed produced by newly-outplanted native species to enhance the surrounding desert,” said Matt Flores, wildlife biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
Post-fire lands are dominated by nonnative and invasive annual grasses that provide poor forage for the tortoise, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
