The Center for Biological Diversity and Nokuse Education filed a notice of intent to sue the US Fish and Wildlife Service for not listing the gopher tortoise as endangered or threatened in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama.
The center noted there are some state-level protections for the burrowing tortoises, but those generally require the animals to be moved from a development site and do not protect their habitat overall. The tortoises have lost 97% of the longleaf pine savannas where they lived for millions of years in the South.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has projected that 75% of the current gopher tortoise population will be lost by 2100. The burrows they dig with shovel-like front legs, which can extend 30 feet (9 meters) underground, also support an estimated 360 other species that use them.
Gopher tortoises once inhabited more than 92 million acres of land in the southeastern US but now have only a fraction of that space due to human development, agriculture, climate change, invasive species, and other issues, according to the center’s lawsuit notice.
According to the Gopher Tortoise Council website:
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 12-month finding for listing the gopher tortoise as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has stimulated additional interest in the conservation of the species. A Candidate Conservation Agreement and a comprehensive strategy have been developed for the gopher tortoise. It will be necessary to define a minimum viable population size, the number of viable populations needed, and the ideal geographic distribution of these populations in order to conserve this species successfully.
The scientific literature provides mixed guidance about what constitutes a minimum viable gopher tortoise population. Results from existing population viability models vary from 25 to 250 individuals under ideal habitat conditions. In addition, there is no consistency in the scientific literature regarding how large a parcel of habitat must be to support a viable population. Therefore, there was a clear need to convene experts in gopher tortoise biology, ecology, management, and demographic modeling to reach a consensus regarding the following objectives:
"Everything affecting the gopher tortoise’s habitat affects the tortoise and … eventually affects all other organisms in its ecosystem," said Dr. George W. Folkerts of the University of Auburn University. "To save the gopher tortoise is really a manifestation of our desire to preserve intact, significant pieces of the biosphere... We must preserve…the gopher tortoise and other species in similar predicaments, for if we do not, we lose a part of our humanity, a part of our habitat, and ultimately our world.”
4 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
MamaMia
Hello Reggie, wherever you are this morning. I have been trying to log into your website, the Apopka Voice, all day yesterday, and earlier this morning, but I kept getting security warnings that it was not a secure website, and that hackers could steal info. I tried a different browser, and the same type warning came up, so I didn't pursue it further. I wonder if anyone else has this problem on the Apopka Voice yesterday and today? I have never had that happen before on trying to log on. Everything seems fine now. I see the RSR HOA board is boycotting your website, and advertisers. I think it is just plain silly. They can do what they want, but I won't boycott you, and your advertisers. I enjoy the articles you publish very much, and there are times we have differing opinions on political subjects, but no one agrees all the time. Forge onward Reggie! I could go on other social media to private websites, be a member to view, but no thanks, if a person has to do that, IMO, I am not interested. I like the public websites, such as yours.
Sunday, March 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
I am looking so forward to the day the doctors remove these annoying stitches from my facial wound At the top of my hair line, a bunch of sharp nylon fishing line type thread sticks out everywhere, and is so irritating. Sleeping at night on a pillow is like sleeping against a cacti or a porcupine. I have to keep Vaseline on it at all times, and compress with an ice pack. Dr. told me expect bruising around the eye, because things go south with gravity kicking in. It did. I had a bad headache around my eye the first few days. It has subsided. Altogether, was told 6 months to heal completely. Don't know what the scar will be like, but have been told they can be somewhat repaired. I must stay out of the sun to keep the wound from darkening They gave me some meds to fight bacterial infections. It also is given out for malaria, and pimples. That's weird? I was blindsighted! Didn't understand how bad this surgery was, or how bad it could become, if I chose to do nothing Squaroma cancer. I know I didn't spell it correctly. It wasn't basal or the worse, melanoma, but still could kill a person and spread. I goggled the images. The surgeon told me don't be googling. LOL Two different strangers, both women, looked at me, and said, uh oh, you have had a skin cancer cut out, and I said yes. One said, been there, done it, and showed me her scars, two places. The other lady told me her husband had it cut out of his chest, and to be thankful it could be removed, and is gone. Neither one said, oh your husband beat you,......
Sunday, March 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
Before at the dermatologists, if they suspected a mole or freckle, they got the liquid nitrogen gun and blasted those places. I had a bunch of places blasted, and those spots turned into blisters, and took forever to heal. This time, they injected pain killers all around the area, then scraped it, sent it off to a lab, and it came back positive for cancer, then the surgery was scheduled. I don't think I would have done anything, but I recently learned that Jill Biden had skin cancer removed, and that made me more concerned. I am not sure, if it was this bad or worse.
Sunday, March 26, 2023 Report this
MamaMia
I see there is 360 species that the tortoises support with their burrows,. Wow, that is a lot of different animals. I will be interested in seeing that long list! About all I can think of is rattlesnakes, and believe me, if you are new to this area, they were crawling around these parts big time, not that long ago. One man, my husband worked with at a plant nursery, was mowing the grounds on a riding mower, and came upon a huge rattlesnake, and did it run away in fear? No, no, no! It tried to come up over the top of the riding mower where he was sitting, and he fled the mower, running for his life! True story, on Rock Springs Road, in the 70s.
Sunday, March 26, 2023 Report this