Gopher tortoise eligible for endangered species list
August 08, 2011
RANDAL YAKEY / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY — The gopher tortoise is eligible for the endangered species list but with so many candidates ahead of it, joining the list may be a way off.
Instead, the National Wildlife Service (NWS) is asking those in Bay County and elsewhere in gopher tortoise habitat to do more to improve the habitat for the tortoise.
“You definitely have them in your area,” said Chuck Underwood of the NWS referring to Bay County. “And their numbers are falling.”
The gopher tortoise typically inhabits relatively well-drained, sandy soils and is generally associated with longleaf pine sand hills, but also occurs in scrub, dry hammock, pine flatwoods, dry prairie, coastal grasslands and dunes, mixed hardwood-pine communities, and a variety of disturbed habitats. Gopher tortoises excavate burrows up to 52 feet long and nine to 23 feet deep.
“You have dry sandy upland, which the tortoise likes. Unfortunately for them we also like to build on those sites,” Underwood said.
Gopher tortoises east of Mobile Bay will be added to the list of candidate species eligible for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. While candidate species receive no statutory protection under the ESA, inclusion on the candidate list promotes cooperative conservation efforts for these species.
The NWS can provide technical assistance and grants to private landowners and states that undertake conservation efforts on behalf of the gopher tortoise. The NWS also can work with landowners to develop voluntary agreements to allow citizens to manage their property in ways that benefit the tortoise. These agreements can be developed to provide regulatory certainty for landowners should the species become listed under the ESA.
“After careful review, we have determined the gopher tortoise east of Mobile Bay is facing many of the same problems and challenges as the western population, which is already listed as threatened,” said Cynthia Dohner, Southeast Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We hope increased protection and conservation efforts in the next few years by private landowners and state and federal agencies in Alabama Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina can reduce those threats.”
In making this determination, the service completed a comprehensive review – known as a 12-month finding – and found sufficient scientific and commercial data to propose listing the species as threatened or endangered throughout its range.
However, the service is precluded from beginning work immediately on a listing proposal because its limited resources must be devoted to other, higher priority actions.
The eastern portion of the gopher tortoise’s range includes Alabama (east of the Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers), Florida and Georgia.
In Florida, the state listed the gopher turtle as a threatened species.
“The real challenge now is to fine tune on-the-ground management and reach out to more private landowners, who can have a profound impact on recovery for all species in this ecosystem,” Dohner said.
Gopher tortoises can live to be over 50 years old, but do not reach reproductive age until they are 13 to 21 years old.
August 08, 2011
RANDAL YAKEY / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY — The gopher tortoise is eligible for the endangered species list but with so many candidates ahead of it, joining the list may be a way off.
Instead, the National Wildlife Service (NWS) is asking those in Bay County and elsewhere in gopher tortoise habitat to do more to improve the habitat for the tortoise.
“You definitely have them in your area,” said Chuck Underwood of the NWS referring to Bay County. “And their numbers are falling.”
The gopher tortoise typically inhabits relatively well-drained, sandy soils and is generally associated with longleaf pine sand hills, but also occurs in scrub, dry hammock, pine flatwoods, dry prairie, coastal grasslands and dunes, mixed hardwood-pine communities, and a variety of disturbed habitats. Gopher tortoises excavate burrows up to 52 feet long and nine to 23 feet deep.
“You have dry sandy upland, which the tortoise likes. Unfortunately for them we also like to build on those sites,” Underwood said.
Gopher tortoises east of Mobile Bay will be added to the list of candidate species eligible for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. While candidate species receive no statutory protection under the ESA, inclusion on the candidate list promotes cooperative conservation efforts for these species.
The NWS can provide technical assistance and grants to private landowners and states that undertake conservation efforts on behalf of the gopher tortoise. The NWS also can work with landowners to develop voluntary agreements to allow citizens to manage their property in ways that benefit the tortoise. These agreements can be developed to provide regulatory certainty for landowners should the species become listed under the ESA.
“After careful review, we have determined the gopher tortoise east of Mobile Bay is facing many of the same problems and challenges as the western population, which is already listed as threatened,” said Cynthia Dohner, Southeast Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We hope increased protection and conservation efforts in the next few years by private landowners and state and federal agencies in Alabama Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina can reduce those threats.”
In making this determination, the service completed a comprehensive review – known as a 12-month finding – and found sufficient scientific and commercial data to propose listing the species as threatened or endangered throughout its range.
However, the service is precluded from beginning work immediately on a listing proposal because its limited resources must be devoted to other, higher priority actions.
The eastern portion of the gopher tortoise’s range includes Alabama (east of the Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers), Florida and Georgia.
In Florida, the state listed the gopher turtle as a threatened species.
“The real challenge now is to fine tune on-the-ground management and reach out to more private landowners, who can have a profound impact on recovery for all species in this ecosystem,” Dohner said.
Gopher tortoises can live to be over 50 years old, but do not reach reproductive age until they are 13 to 21 years old.
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