When Nye County Natural Resources Director Jim Marble carried the map of the desert tortoise habitat conservation zone out of the Bob Ruud Community Center Tuesday morning it was symbolic of the defeat of the plan.

It will be back to the drawing board after Nye County commissioners voted to shelve a desert tortoise habitat protection plan and work instead on stepping up the pace to complete a long-term, multi-species plan.

Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists underwent a grilling from the commissioners.

Joni Eastley called their bluff, learning that no tough enforcement measures are outlined for failure to enact the plan.

"What are the consequences if the board does not adopt this plan today?" she asked.

"We're going to come back to you and try to work out a way to make you feel comfortable with this plan. Our intent is to find a way to develop without being crosswise with the Endangered Species Act," Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Field Supervisor Janet Bair said. "If nothing would work with you, I'm not sure where to go from there."

Bair said a trip to Clark County would show that development can occur with a habitat conservation plan.

Individual landowners have the option to approach Fish and Wildlife with a mitigation plan to protect desert tortoise habitat, even with approval of this plan administered by the county, Bair said.

"One of the advantages of having Nye County oversee it is we have one plan that facilitates the growth in an orderly manner and it relieves the individual land owners of the burden of having to work with us individually," she said.

Developers complained that under the plan, after 100 acres was developed in the fee area for disturbing desert tortoise habitat -- mostly areas east of Highway 160 -- development wouldn't be permitted without an environmental impact statement.

"I've been here for 39 years. I have not heard of one instance where one of my citizens went out and purposely, maliciously went out and killed a desert tortoise," Commission Chairman Gary Hollis said. "For you to say that there has been taking of desert tortoise in that manner disturbs me."

Bair said the habitat conservation plan presented Tuesday involved a short-term situation. The Fish and Wildlife service helped Nye County obtain grants to hire consultants to develop the plan, she said.

"We wanted to get something quickly on the ground," Bair said. "Nye County asked us if there was a quick way to get some coverage for the initial amount of development that would occur."

Clark County drew up a short-term habitat conservation plan in 1990 after the desert tortoise was listed as an endangered species. Bair said that was followed up with a longer-term plan in 1995.

Commissioner Butch Borasky asked why the 100-acre limit couldn't be higher.

"We depend on growth for our economy to keep everything growing. To be able to only do 70 to 100 acres would be a hindrance we couldn't really absorb," he said.

Commissioner Peter Liakopoulos asked how successful fish and wildlife was at protecting desert tortoises in Clark County. Bair said the fees collected were spent on habitat conservation projects like an easement in Boulder City, public education and guidelines on how off-highway vehicle races are conducted.

Lilakpoulos had questions about whether Fish and Wildlife collected tortoises. Bair said Clark County officials took tortoises to the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center. Some were released to a translocation site where they live in the wild, some were euthanised due to disease. Some are still housed at the conservation center and will be used for research.

"You're going to have to convince me this isn't all about money. If I as a commissioner tried to do what you're doing today, I would be in court for a taking, a taking of property without paying for it," Hollis said.

He charged it would take a long time for a federal agency to approve an environmental impact statement for a private development on desert tortoise habitat.

Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, said he lived in "the federally-occupied land of Nye."

"We always hear, this is what the federal government wants, this is what we have to do. If we did that when King George taxed tea, there would be no Boston Tea Party," Goedhart said. "For us to say it's someone else's law, we don't have control, we just have to stand by and put the noose around our neck. I don't believe that's the right way of looking at it."

Property owners would have to become bureaucrats, learning how to hire biologists and deal with the federal agencies under this plan, Goedhart said.

Gerald Hillier, executive director of the Quad States Local Government Authority, was asked to appear by Liakopoulos. But Hillier said the plans provide a pool of money preventing users from being "mitigated out of existence on the federal land."

Large developers would have the financial backing to negotiate their own habitat conservation plans with the Fish and Wildlife service, he said.

But developer Tim Hafen said it would be devastating to the economic growth of Pahrump. The plan will make it difficult to obtain financing for development projects, he said.

"He successfully urged commissioners to back off from approving the plan and instead let stakeholders get involved in the long-term, multi-species plan through well-publicized public hearings.

Bible study

Streams in the Desert Christian Bookstore will hold a bible study class at 6:30 p.m., Sunday Dec. 23 and Sunday Dec. 30 at the bookstore, 421 S. Front Street.

Call 751-6988 for more information.

Candlelight service

The Central Valley Baptist Church will hold candlelight services at 6 p.m., Dec. 24, 3170 S. Blagg Road.

Call 702-480-4892 for more information.

Advent Services

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church is inviting the public to Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., Dec. 24 at the church.

Call 727-9680 for more information.