Making move to save more gopher tortoises

Making move to save more gopher tortoises
By ELLIOTT JONES elliott.jones@scripps.com October 13, 2006
WABASSO — When Humane Society director Joan Carlson saw a developer clearing some woodlands weeks ago, she feared some state-protected gopher tortoises would be destroyed.
So society officials began checking.
This week that led to a major policy shift by state wildlife officials, allowing local citizens for the first time to step in and save tortoises developers have been permitted to plow under.
"It's been entombment," said local Humane Society official Ilka Daniel, referring to the state's long-standing policy of allowing destruction of gopher tortoise burrows.
Now she and national Humane Society officials hope other groups throughout Florida will follow the local Humane Society's lead in trying to move tortoises that otherwise might have died.
Under state rules, developers can either contribute money or have the tortoises moved, with only permitted people allowed to do the work. Developers have often found it cheaper to contribute to the land-buying program than go through the state-regulated process of relocating the animals.
Through the years, the state's so-called pay-and-plow policy has collected $33 million, used in purchasing 9,700 acres at 11 sites in Florida — all for safeguarding gopher tortoises, said Joy Hill, spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
But because of declining numbers of tortoises and loss of lands on which they live, the commission in June increased the animal's status, making it a threatened species, just one step under being endangered. An estimated 250,000 tortoises live in Florida.
And next summer Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission plans to stop its policy of allowing developers to plow under gopher tortoises, commission officials said.
The new rule, allowing citizens' involvement, is largely a humanitarian gesture, said Hill, who doesn't expect it to do much in safeguarding the overall tortoise population.
Yet, "We don't want turtles to be killed either," she said.
National Humane Society official Jennifer Hobgood sees it differently. She intervened, on the local Humane Society's behalf, this week to get the rules changed. And on Thursday, she visited the construction work site that alarmed Carlson. Hobgood estimated that the state's pay-and-plow policy has been allowing the destruction of 8,000 to 10,000 tortoises a year throughout the state.
Hobgood and Daniel found four tortoises on Thursday, including three living in an undeveloped portion of a subdivision. The fourth is presumed to have dug itself out of a buried burrow, Hobgood said.
Those turtles were moved to the undeveloped area. Also, the workers identified 18 burrows being used by tortoises. Work will continue throughout the weekend.
"Tortoises are a keystone species," said Florida Atlantic University tortoise researcher John Moore, a Vero Beach resident who helped with the work of locating tortoises at the development site.
According to a state survey, the subdivision contained an estimated 15 tortoises. Each tortoise can have anywhere from one to five burrows, wildlife officials said, and half of the estimated 30 burrows at the subdivision were plowed over. The remainder are in protected areas, society officials said.
"The developer has been very, very cooperative" on allowing society officials to get on site and look for turtles, Daniel said. Yet, she said, the developer doesn't want to be identified. A developer's local representative didn't return phone calls.
Relocating turtles on the site is a temporary measure as society officials start apply for the permanent relocation permit allowed under the new change in rules. The Humane Society's board hasn't yet met to discuss whether the tortoises could be moved to vacant property at its headquarters.
The search for land is what developers throughout the state will face, if the commission's rule-makers approve the proposed elimination of the pay-and-plow policy.
"It's a multi-million-dollar question," Hill said. "We'll be working with developers, landowners and others to find suitable sites."
The Humane Society of Vero Beach wants local conservation groups to band together to save gopher tortoises threatened by development. • Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission just started allowing local groups to relocate tortoises the commission is allowing developers to bury during construction.
• Groups have to apply for a permit to move the tortoises.
• To get a permit, groups need permission of the developer and a suitable place for the tortoises to live. Sick tortoises can't be moved to site with healthy tortoises.
• Anyone who wants to help may call the Humane Society at (772) 388-3331, ext. 28.