North American desert tortoises have seen their natural populations decimated by development, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and other human-caused threats including chemical and hormonal pollution, gradual global warming, invasive alien species, various illnesses due to introduced pathogens, such as the upper respiratory tract disease and a number of other human-caused factors. Conservation International's President, Russell Mittermeier says: "Turtles have been around since before many dinosaurs walked the planet and have survived relatively unchanged for about 250 million years, but mankind's actions have brought them to the brink of extinction. It's our responsibility to bring them back."
 


TDTC intends to build an architecturally significant tortoise awareness center that will attract the public in large numbers. The center will be located in the Palm Springs, California area, which already hosts millions of tourists annually. The center will contain educational exhibits and displays, a theater airing educational films, a children's "petting" area where a naturalist will help children hold and learn about pet and wild tortoises, and a display looking into tortoise burrows so tortoises may be observed 365 days each year, even when brumating. The center will also have one or several trails where naturalists can point out tortoises, when out, borrows, and vegetation. We intend to provide a safe space in which desert tortoises needing re-homing may be dropped off and maintain temporary residency until their new permanent home is identified. Finally, it will contain a retail space where items may be purchased and donations made. Visitors will leave the facility with a new appreciation of the importance of protecting these animals, and how each of us can make a difference.



Visitors will learn that:

They should always cover garbage cans, in raven-proof containers, and to never litter.

That off-roaders must be required to stay on established paths/roads.

Not to poach wild tortoises.

Not to pick up or disturb tortoises in the wild.​ A tortoise often voids a year's worth of stored water when disturbed, and then dies of dehydration.

Not to return/place pets in the wild.

Not to breed tortoises

Not to let dogs run loose