Florida’s gopher tortoises will soon have one fewer threat from humanity.
For more than a decade, state law allowed developers to bury gopher tortoises during construction, even though the state listed the animal as a species of special concern.
Beginning Tuesday, developers will no longer be allowed to entomb gopher tortoises, which are in the process of being reclassified as a threatened species — the new rule will have no effect in Lee or Collier counties because they already don’t allow entombment.
“Not to defend entombment, but what was right about the program was that developers were required to pay a fee that let us buy gopher tortoise habitat someplace else,” said Joy Hill, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman. “However, because the process allowed entombment, nobody liked it, including developers.”
Nobody knows how many tortoises were entombed under the old system, Hill said.
Over the years, the state issued 96,000 incidental take permits — “incidental take” meaning “potential gopher tortoise mortality” — but, Hill said, many developers moved tortoises to safe locations on the construction site.
In June 2006, FWC commissioners determined that the gopher tortoise should be upgraded from a species of special concern to a threatened species. Florida has three levels of listed species: endangered being the most imperiled, followed by threatened and species of special concern.
Whenever a listed species is reclassified, FWC staff must write a management plan as a guide for the animal’s recovery.
The new prohibition against entombment is actually an interim regulation that will be in place until FWC commissioners vote on the gopher tortoise management plan. The commission will consider the plan for final approval Sept. 12 in St. Petersburg.
If the management plan, which also prohibits entombment, is approved, it will go into effect in one to two years, Hill said.
Under the interim rules, developers with gopher tortoises on their property will still pay a fee and must relocate gopher tortoises out of harm’s way. Developers with incidental take permits dated before July 30 will be allowed to entomb gopher tortoises during the interim period.
The Gopher Tortoise Council, formed in 1978 by biologists and others concerned about the decline of the species, approved of the interim regulations, said the group’s education chairwoman, Laura Wewerka.
“At the same time,” she said, “it’s only good if thought has been put into where gopher tortoises are moved, so it’s not just, ‘Let’s get them out of here and throw them there,’ and a month later that habitat is developed.”
Several variables determine the mitigation fee, including the number of tortoises involved, and whether they are moved to a protected or unprotected site.
“The development community is pleased that the Fish and Wildlife Commission is working on a scientifically based gopher tortoise management plan,” said Kim Fikoski, senior environmental affairs manager for the Bonita Bay Group. “The interim plan is not an issue for the Bonita Bay Group because we’ve always relocated gopher tortoises. One, because it’s the right thing to do, and, two, many counties, including Lee County, require relocation.
“The development community’s concern with the Gopher Tortoise Management Plan is whether there will be adequate relocation sites, and that requires funding for acquisition and management.”
The main reason gopher tortoises are being reclassified is depletion of the population due to habitat loss or degradation — degradation can result from such practices as fire suppression, which allows tortoise habitat to become overgrown.
Gopher tortoises are not, however, being protected for themselves alone.
Scientists consider the gopher tortoise a keystone species — a species whose presence is essential to its ecosystem — because more than 80 other species live in gopher tortoise burrows or use them for protection.
Some species using gopher tortoise burrows are also on the state’s imperiled list: The Eastern indigo snake and scrub jay are threatened; the Florida mouse, pine snake, burrowing owl and gopher frog are species of special concern.
“What’s really important is that habitat loss is the problem,” Hill said. “They’re not making any more land, and the whole plan depends on counties, cities and other state agencies buying and protecting habitat that supports gopher tortoises.
“We need to figure out ways to get the word out that everybody needs to be a partner. When we manage for gopher tortoises, we manage for other species as well.”
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