Wild Vegas: Hundreds of animal species call Southern Nevada home

By J.D. Morris

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014 | 2 a.m.

At first glance, Las Vegas’ landscape might appear to be a wasteland.

But look a little closer, and you might see something staring back. Sheep, foxes, coyotes, bats, horses, owls, tortoises and reptiles are among the hundreds of species that make Southern Nevada their home. A diverse array of wildlife has adapted to the area’s harsh conditions.

Bighorn sheep dot the desert mountainsides and graze in Boulder City’s Hemenway Park. Coyotes roam the suburbs and city outskirts, sometimes snagging a pet or two for dinner. Jackrabbits hop across streets, burrowing owls hide underground, and migratory birds linger around man-made lakes.

“A lot of people don’t think of wildlife — one word, not two — when it comes to Las Vegas or Nevada and maybe, in our bigger spectrum, the Mojave desert,” said Douglas Nielsen, a regional public affairs and education supervisor for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. “But the desert is full of wildlife of all varieties.”

Humans have had a big impact on many of the animals, and much of it has been destructive.

“We build a new housing development or shopping mall or piece of the asphalt jungle, and we simply are eliminating desert habitat,” said Brett Riddle, a UNLV biology professor.

But people also have had positive interactions with local wildlife and have even saved some species from extinction. Still, the relationship remains complicated and not well understood, Riddle said.

DEVELOPMENT CHANGES HABITAT

Houses, office buildings and strip malls pop up all the time on seemingly barren land on the outskirts of town. But beneath the seemingly empty desert rest animals escaping the daytime heat. Construction can destroy their habitats or kill them.

Riddle once saw the carcass of a kit fox that had been crushed by earth-moving equipment at a construction site.

“These are kind of the ugly truths of urbanization that nobody wants to talk about,” Riddle said.

Such effects often fly under the radar because their effect can be difficult, if not impossible, to see.

It’s not always that way, though: Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy’s standoff with the federal government, for example, was fueled in part by the government’s claim it wanted to protect the habitat of the desert tortoise.

The desert tortoise was listed in 1990 as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Urbanization has caused tortoise populations to decline up to 90 percent in some areas, according to the Conservation Centers for Species Survival.

Animals most vulnerable to harm from development are those that have evolved to live on the desert floor, such as kit foxes and desert tortoises. As development spreads, they run out of places to go.

WHY IT MATTERS

Threats to biodiversity can directly affect humans.

Some animals help keep diseases at bay. If we lose too many predators that feed on disease-carrying prey, such as squirrels with rabies, more humans could be exposed to disease. Destruction of plant life could reduce the number of local “carbon sinks” that absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“Do we lose anything that prevents us from going out to the local restaurant the next day?” Riddle asked. “Probably not. But I think we lose opportunities for growing young people who actually appreciate and embrace biological diversity.” For most endangered species, habitat loss is the principal threat to their existence, according to a 2005 report from the National Wildlife Federation and other groups.

“The conversion of natural areas for homes, offices and shopping centers has become one of the most serious threats to America’s native plant and animal species,” the report stated. “As suburban development continues to sprawl outward, habitat loss and degradation are also likely to accelerate.”

And that desert tortoise? It isn’t as unconnected to humans as you may think. A thriving tortoise population is indicative of a generally healthy environment, experts said.

“The tortoise is kind of like the canary in the coal mine,” said Matthew Tuma, Nevada state director of the Nature Conservancy. “When tortoise populations decline, it reflects a broad decline in the desert, which affects all of us.”

On the other hand, if we can protect the desert tortoise, “that’s a sign that we’re protecting everything,” Tuma said.

MANAGING OUR IMPACT

Local officials have taken steps to protect the desert tortoise and the region’s other wildlife.

Clark County requires developers to pay a one-time fee of $550 per acre to fund the Desert Conservation Program, which works to protect habitat for 78 plant and animal species through public education, research and infrastructure changes. Conservationists, for example, put up fencing along roads to reduce tortoise deaths and house tortoises found wandering in the desert.

“We do have an impact anytime we’re developing, anytime more people are moving into an area,” Tuma said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it in a responsible way.”

Howard Hughes Corp., when it was developing Summerlin in the ’80s, exchanged 5,000 acres of land it owned near the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area for 3,000 acres in a less environmentally sensitive area. Developing the 5,000 acres could have hurt species, and the builders “didn’t want to develop in places that seemed irresponsible,” Tuma said.

The Nature Conservancy helped with the deal.

At the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone between Las Vegas and Moapa, government officials have encouraged solar energy manufacturers to build on land that’s not a high priority for habitat protection. That way, development remains in areas already disturbed, while land more important to wildlife is preserved.

The efforts appear to be working.

Humans have helped restore the populations of desert bighorn sheep, Nevada’s state animal. Uncontrolled hunting and disease from livestock depleted the wild sheep’s numbers in the ’60s to just about 3,000. Today, the sheep number around 11,000 statewide.

Wildlife Department workers for almost 50 years have captured bighorn sheep in places with healthy populations and transported them to regions with small or nonexistent herds, both to preserve their numbers and their range. The department also uses “guzzlers” that capture freshwater to provide a drinking source for the sheep.

That doesn’t mean the bighorn sheep population is totally free from threats. The wildlife department has found pneumonia in some Southern Nevada wild sheep over the past year, although it is still trying to determine the extent f the problem, according to Nielsen.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?

Riddle suggested people look at the valley like a checkerboard. Some plots are filled in with buildings, others remain open land.

To best help wildlife, scientists recommend developers fill in the checkerboard, rather than expand it out.

Undeveloped plots sandwiched between developed land result in habitat fragmentation. Animals get isolated by housing tracts and shopping malls and become unable to feed, mate and roam. That contributes to species endangerment.

Education also is an important piece of the puzzle. The next generation needs to know what it stands to lose, advocates said.

Clark County Wetlands Park and Springs Preserve offer tours for schoolchildren and education events for the community. Department of Wildlife staff also visit schools to teach pupils about local wildlife.

Riddle said it’s important for schools to instill in students a sense of wonder about nature.

“We have a population with a very strong disconnect with the place that they live,” Riddle said. “It’s amazing to me, teaching classes to kids that grew up in Las Vegas, how little they actually know about the landscape around them.”