Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Steady movement in tortoise protection

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published December 12, 2006

Gopher tortoises on a construction site are as welcome as an interest rate hike.

The burrowing land turtles slow things down and drive up the cost of a project.

A builder needs a permit to move them, but under existing rules, it's cheaper and quicker to seal them beneath the ground. Oh, yes, and inhumane.

Over the past 30 years, while millions of people flocked to Florida, the gopher tortoise population dropped 80 percent.

Given that number, you might wonder why the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is just now considering listing the land turtle as a threatened species. Other states have already done so. And there is talk of banning gopher tortoise kills altogether. That may take some time.

Meanwhile, communities around the state are trying to balance how best to protect the vulnerable animals without slowing development.

Citrus County has done more than just talk. Two years ago, in an unusually forward-thinking move, the county adopted a policy to stop burying the turtles alive when burrows showed up on land targeted for county projects. Instead, the county paid to relocate the critters.

Now Citrus development director Gary Maidhof wants to go a step further. He wants county commissioners either to establish county-owned land preserves for displaced tortoises or use established "gopher camps," where the county would pay private landowners for relocation.

It is illegal to kill, possess, transport, relocate or sell gopher tortoises or their eggs, or to destroy their burrows, without a state permit.

It costs about $1,100 each to relocate a tortoise, but for $6,000 an acre, a developer can get a permit to bury an untold number of gopher tortoises alive.

Seems like a financial incentive for turtle eradication.

The Citrus relocation proposals are a modest step forward even as the state moves at tortoiselike speed to draft new rules. County commissioners should act quickly. In Pasco, there is also preliminary talk of establishing a county-owned gopher preserve.

But being gopher tortoise friendly isn't free or cheap. If a county decides to have its own preserve, that land must be bought and managed. The private option looks less expensive in the short term.

There are private landowners who manage their land for hunting. Hunters and gopher tortoises can co-exist. But as private land preserves become scarcer, the cost of relocating the gopher tortoises will increase. Thankfully, because of rules already in place, these large tracts can't be turned into housing neighborhoods.

The state estimates gopher tortoises have been around for 60-million years. Imagine threatening such a hearty species through development.

Classic Florida story.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 12, 2006, 11:19:15]