Desert tortoise management will be consistent with the following documents:
Desert Tortoise Habitat Management on Public Lands: A Rangewide Plan (BLM 1988).
Strategy for Desert Tortoise Habitat Management on Public Lands in Arizona, Instruction Memorandum No. AZ-91-16 (BLM 1990a),
Strategy for Desert Tortoise Habitat Management on Public Lands in Arizona: New Guidance on Compensation for the Desert Tortoise, Instruction Memorandum No. AZ-92-46 (BLM 1992), and
Supplemental Guidance for Desert Tortoise Compensation, Instruction Memorandum No. AZ-99-008 (BLM 1999).
TE-10. No net loss will occur in the quality or quantity of Category I and II desert tortoise habitat to the extent practicable. BLM will address and include mitigation measures in decision documents to offset the loss of quality or quantity of Category I, II, and III tortoise habitats.
TE-11. Compensation may be required to mitigate residual impacts from authorized actions.
TE-12. Evaluate on a case-by-case basis all proposed activities, including the following, for impacts to desert tortoise population or habitats:
requests for rights-of-way,
easements,
withdrawals,
range improvements,
mineral material sales, and
commercial and organized group SRP applications.
TE-13. Mitigation for adverse impacts is permissible to achieve no net loss in quantity or quality of desert tortoise habitat.
TE-14. In Category I and II tortoise habitats, all motorized competitive races will be prohibited from March 31 through October 15. All other use requests during this time will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may be denied or adjusted to avoid conflict with tortoise activity and habitat. Mitigation for conflicts will be permissible to achieve no net loss in quantity or quality of desert tortoise habitat.
TE-15. All mining plans of operations will be assessed for impacts to desert tortoise habitat on a case-by-case basis. Adverse impacts to desert tortoise will be mitigated to the extent allowable in the 3809 regulations.