Desert Tortoise Inventory at Lake Mead National Recreation Area 2022 - Open Format Dataset for Transects (sensitive version)

Line distance sampling is the current method for estimating regional densities of desert tortoises under range-wide monitoring called for in the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [USFWS]. 2011. Revised recovery plan for the Mojave population of the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). USFWS, Pacific Southwest Region, Sacramento, California. 222 pp.). Line distance sampling efforts result in a variety of related data: boundaries, planned transects, transects, waypoints, transect carcass observations, and transect live observations. Strata Subunits represent management areas and were used for sampling the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA). Strata Subunits were developed by overlaying LMNRA management areas with management areas used in range-wide monitoring. Planned transects are identified by the southwest corners for each of the randomly selected intended and walked transects. Transects are the actual transects that were sampled by field crews. Waypoints represent coordinate points collected along the transects at approximately 500m intervals and used to reconstruct the path of travel. Transect live/carcass observations represent observations made by field crews while walking transects using distance sampling search techniques. These data were collected under protocols to optimize estimation of tortoise densities in each recovery unit. These data are also suitable for use by scientific and resource management communities for ongoing desert tortoise research, modeling, monitoring, mapping, and visualization applications.