5 On April 5, 2021 the Tortoise Research and Captive Rearing Site (TRACRS) at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Twentynine Palms released a group of 98 juvenile desert tortoises into the wild. The tortoises were protected and raised in the TRACRS facility and were monitored as part of the MCAGCC translocation program.
In 2006, MCAGCC Twentynine Palms began the headstart program to rehabilitate the desert tortoise , a threatened species that lives in and around the base. The goal is to bolster the natural population, which has declined 50-90% in the Mojave Desert due to a wide range of threats, including ravens, coyotes, habitation degradation, disease, road mortalities and invasive plants.