The Army is set to begin relocating 770 desert tortoises in order expand their Fort Irwin training facility in Southern California, something they've been trying to do for two decades. We guess even the Army isn't immune to the headaches of red tape.

We actually had experience working with the desert tortoise a few years back in Las Vegas as part of a USGS study. Basically, everyone started moving to Las Vegas and building homes and strip malls and the desert tortoises -- though not endangered as Reuters claims, but still threatened -- were relocated to Bureau of Land Management land, as is the case with the Army relocation.

The study we worked on helped to determine the maximum density of tortoises that could be placed in an area without carnage ensuing (trust us, you haven't lived until you've seen two desert tortoises fighting ... or mating, but that's another story).

Anyway, we guess if the tortoises can be relocated for slot machines, it's not really a surprise that the same would be done to provide the Army with more space for training and sophisticated weapons testing. That hasn't stopped two conservation groups from suing the Army to prevent the move, contending that the chosen sights would be too close to highways and other nuisances that would stress out the tortoises.

Whe working in Mojave, we were honestly surprised how attached people got to the desert tortoise, considering they aren't very huggable and look like 90-year-old men. But tens of millions of dollars have been spent studying them and ensuring their safety, despite not even being listed as an endangered species (which is not something we are looking for -- we're just pleasantly surprised by the proactive nature of their protection, especially considering President Bush's track record on endangered species protection).