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ST. GEORGE — With an unsustainable number of juvenile tortoises dying, the Washington County Habitat Conservation Advisory Committee got the ball rolling on raven mitigation after years of research.
On March 28, the committee, which oversees the Habitat Conservation Plan, or HCP, moved forward with federal partners to create a raven management plan. Various strategies will be implemented to reduce young tortoise deaths, including egg oiling.
Egg oiling involves applying oil to raven eggs, preventing embryos from developing. It is considered a nonlethal and humane method to control bird populations. HCP Administrator Cameron Rognan described the measure as "birth control for ravens" while speaking to the Washington County Commission earlier this month.
Egg oiling increases survival rates of juvenile tortoises, "almost resetting us back to where we need to be in terms of survivorship," Kerry Holcomb from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Desert Tortoise Recovery Office said at Thursday's HCP Technical Committee meeting.
