Desert Tortoise Status and Critical Habitat
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service designated habitat critical to the survival and recovery of the Mojave populations of the desert tortoise in 1994. Critical Habitat Units (yellow) were designated in California, Nevada, Utah and in Arizona north and west of the Grand Canyon. The blue area in the west is the Desert Tortoise Natural Area and blue area in the south is Joshua Tree National Park.
| Federal Legal Status | |
| 1980 | USFWS lists the Beaver Dam Slope population in Utah as threatened; designates 35 square miles of Critical Habitat |
| 1989 | Emergency listing |
| April 2, 1990 | USFWS issue "final rule" listing the Mojave population of the desert tortoise (tortoises north and west of the Colorado River) as threatened. |
| February 8, 1994 | USFWS designates 6.4 million acres of Critical Habitat in California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. |
| 1994 | USFWS publishes Desert Tortoise (Mojave Population) Recovery Plan |
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