The Desert Tortoise Natural Area (DTNA) is a 39.5-square-mile (102 km2) area northeast of California City, California set aside for the California State Reptile, the Desert Tortoise. The area is located at the southwestern end of the Rand Mountains in the Mojave Desert, and has an interpretive center for visitors.
The Bureau of Land Management recognized the significance of the area and designated it an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern" and as a "Research Natural Area" in 1980.
Famous quotes containing the words desert, tortoise, natural and/or area:
“In time the scouring of wind and rain will wear down the ranges and plane off the region until it has the drab monotony of the older deserts. In the meantime—a two-million-year meantime—travelers may enjoy the cruel beauties of a desert in its youth,....”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
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—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“If the most significant characteristic of man is the complex of biological needs he shares with all members of his species, then the best lives for the writer to observe are those in which the role of natural necessity is clearest, namely, the lives of the very poor.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
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—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)