Preservation

Relocation

One of the more well-known preservation strategies for gopher tortoises is relocation. This involves taking tortoises from a place where development is planned and moving them to a different location, known as a recipient site. This process allows contractors to continue building subdivisions and malls while also keeping the tortoises safe. It has saved thousands of tortoises' lives, scientists say, but it is not ideal.

Florida’s population growth is booming. With more than 300,000 people having moved to the state in 2022 according to The National Association of Realtors, or about 870 per day, more and more land is being developed to accommodate them all. This means that relocation efforts suffer because of a lack of recipient sites within a 100-mile radius, a regulation that was put in place in 2008 to ensure the tortoises aren’t relocated to an environment that is too different from where they originally came from.

However, this regulation was relaxed in November of 2021. Bennett says that the order, issued by FWC Executive Director Eric Sutton, allowed this 100-mile rule to be overruled on a case-by-case basis. This means tortoises can be relocated from their preferred habitat to areas more than 100 miles away such as the Florida Panhandle. The order was enforced for 90 days and as of 2023 the 100-mile rule is still intact.

Even though the 100-mile regulation is safe for now, there is still a problem of a lack of recipient sites. In addition to this, Bennett also explains that there is a push to reduce the number of tortoises at each site to a density more similar to how tortoises would live in the wild, the ideal number being 2 per acre. The solution to this would be to protect more land or more private land owners agree to let their land be used as a recipient site. 

Disease

One reason gopher tortoises shouldn’t be relocated too far from their original homes is because the changes in environment could be too much for them to handle. Pirtle explains that if you take a tortoise from South Florida to the Panhandle, there will be different vegetation and cold winters that the tortoise had never experienced.

The tortoise can also be exposed to animals it hasn’t encountered before, which opens up the risk for disease transfer. This threatens not only the tortoises but the animals that already live at the recipient site.

The risk of disease transfer is especially worrying for gopher tortoises, which are at a high risk of contracting the extremely contagious upper respiratory tract disease. Since their burrows are hubs for a lot of different animals, there can be a lot of disease transmission with the commensal species in addition to the tortoise, says Pirtle. All of these can pose problems for relocated tortoises, especially if recipient sites are limited.

However, according to Strange, a Palm Beach County Environmental Analyst, there is a way to reduce the risk of disease becoming a threat. The ability for recipient sites to trade tortoises with each other makes it so the tortoise population has more genetic diversity, which reduces the risk of disease transfer.

Commensal Species

The relocation of gopher tortoises also calls into question what happens to the animals that use their burrows when the tortoises are relocated and aren’t there to maintain them. According to  the FWC’s Gopher Tortoise Permitting Guidelines, there are three priority vertebrae, or non-insect commensals; the Florida pine snake, Florida mouse, and gopher frog.

Commensals are described as species that are “strongly associated with gopher tortoise burrows,” and priority commensals ones which their “survival is directly linked to their interactions with gopher tortoises” by the FWC’s Gopher Tortoise Guidelines. Because of the relationship between these animals and the gopher tortoise, the FWC has authorized their limited relocation if found during gopher tortoise relocation initiatives until individual species management plans are approved by FWC’s Commission.

The FWC’s Florida Imperiled Species Management Plan details all the species that are endangered. It includes the threats they face, conservation goals and approaches, and current protections. Many of the priority commensals are in this guide, including the Florida mouse, gopher frog, and Florida pine snake. One of the entries for threats that the Florida mouse faces, which include the unintended consequences of relocation, shows that relocation, while a good strategy, is not perfect.

The FWC Gopher Tortoise Permitting Guidelines states in their Policy on the Relocation of Priority Commensals that they were allowed to be relocated if they were “captured incidentally during authorized gopher tortoise capture methods” which suggests that any relocations of these species are by accident rather than intentional.

This makes it seem that relocation prioritizes gopher tortoises and the commensal species are more of an afterthought. Unlike gopher tortoises, once the relocation of these animals has happened, there was no requirement to follow up on how they are doing afterward. As a result, little is known about their survival and impact on local populations.

A table in the Policy Guide details current guidelines on how to deal with commensals based on the species and how impacted the original habitat will be after development. Of the three named species, only the Florida mouse is to be relocated, and only if there is no habitat left. If there is any remaining habitat at the original site or an adjacent site, Florida mice should be released back to the original site, along with all other species, including the gopher frog and pine snake.

This will likely change in the future, as once individual species management plans are approved by FWC’s Commission, the regulations for relocating commensals will be re-evaluated and changed however they see fit.

Wildlife Preserves

There are an abundance of wildlife preserves and natural areas in Florida. Below are a few that I visited.

Ashton Biological Preserve

The Ashton Biological Preserve is a 100-acre conservation area in Archer that works to protect land and endangered species. In terms of conservation efforts, they have their hands in a little bit of everything, as Pirtle would say. They work to help gopher tortoise conservation by monitoring health issues and keeping track of the population. They also meet with private landowners and encourage them to get their property protected.

Seacrest Scrub

Seacrest Scrub, a 54-acre natural area in Boynton Beach, is home to many gopher tortoises and even offers a gopher tortoise trail for hiking. As one of many beautiful natural areas in Florida, many people simply come to enjoy a walk or jog out in nature. Many people doing this might not see any tortoises since they aren’t normally so close to the main path, but one tortoise made its burrow right next to it, allowing everyone walking by to take a look.

I also visited a second time with Strange. I was able to watch her along with some volunteers fixing a burrow that a tortoise had accidentally built outside of the fenced in area. With the tortoise able to exit the burrow on the other side of the fence, it had the opportunity to walk into the road and get injured or even killed from a car.

Since according to Strange, it is illegal to relocate a burrow, her and the volunteers had to work with what they were allowed to do. They were able to keep the tortoises work intact, simply adding an artificial roof and covering it with sand inorder to extend the burrow until its entrance was inside the scrub.

Gopher tortoise burrow on the wrong side of fence (Provided by Victoria Strange)

The preserve places a lot of value in educating the public, which is very important, as Pirtle explains that they have been able to reach thousands of people to create more awareness of the issue and more people who will go on to become environmentalists themselves. “The education system, in my opinion, has done a poor job of educating the people on the natural world and the systems that sustain society,” Pirtle says.

Pirtle talks about how important education is, mentioning how even adults sometimes don’t know the difference between turtles and tortoises, which resulted in them throwing tortoises in the water thinking they were helping. He also does presentations to children, teaching them about the importance of gopher tortoises to the ecosystem as a keystone species, while leaving out the darker aspects of why they are endangered.

Three photographs of Chase Pirtle with various animals

Gopher tortoise burrow adjusted so it’s entrance is inside the fence

Victoria Strange and I at Seacrest Scrub

Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area

Of the places I visited, my favorite was Hypoluxo Scrub Natural Area. The 97-acre preserve has beautiful scenery complete with unique plants, trees, and flowers, and even a large observation deck that you could walk up to get a view of the entire area.

Once past the main entrance, the nature trail begins, and it immediately alerts you to the presence of gopher tortoises with some signs. There are plenty of options to take, including a main walkway and many sandy paths to venture down. It’s also a lot easier to spot burrows and even gopher tortoises if you’re on the sand paths.

After walking all the way down the main sidewalk and back without seeing any sign of a burrow or a tortoise, it was time to journey down the more natural sandy path. Unlike Seacrest Scrub where a tortoise had made its home right next to the path, not all of them would be so keen to do this. Sure enough, once I ventured on the sand, with a careful eye, I was able to spot a burrow hidden among the foliage, though there was no tortoise in it.

Not long after, I stumbled upon a tortoise out in the open. At this point, having been to quite a few natural areas, I’d never seen a tortoise that far away from its burrow, and I’d never seen one move either, but this one headed for its burrow after stopping for some photos. 

After watching the tortoise walk back to its burrow, I kept on moving. Right after, I found another tortoise out in the open once again. It was out eating a midmorning snack and continued to eat without a care in the world rather than head back to its burrow even after spotting me.

High Ridge Scrub

At High Ridge Scrub, a 39-acre protected natural area in Boynton Beach, I was fortunate to receive a tour from Strange. It was a great opportunity to learn more about the area and take photos of the tortoises and their habitat. Even better, she knew exactly where to find burrows. It was about 65 degrees that day. Not too cold, but pretty chilly for South Florida, even in the middle of December, so there weren’t too many tortoises around. They’d all retreated into their burrows to keep warm.

Despite a lack of tortoises out and about, there were so many beautiful plants and flowers to see. Everything from green fan-like plants and delicate purple flowers to small cactuses sprinkled around that made me feel like I was in the desert.

There was always something new and interesting to look at, and I was able to take some great pictures of the landscape. We even found a few brave tortoises that had ventured out of their burrows. I found myself laughing because some of them seemed to know what I was doing and were posing for the pictures I was taking.

Seeing gopher tortoises up close is such a wonderful experience, but there are still some people who behave recklessly without thinking of the consequences and how it can hurt wildlife.

The land where these tortoises live is protected, but unfortunately, not everyone respects that. While walking around, I was shocked to find the remnants of parties, including broken beer bottles and white BB gun pellets littering the ground.

While Strange and I attempted to pick up the pellets to discard them, we kept stumbling upon more and more. Eventually, we decided to leave them in a pile so that she could come back for them later on, but I knew that there still had to be dozens more we hadn’t found.

According to Florida’s Litter Law, littering an amount of fewer than 15 pounds is considered a noncriminal infraction, and the guilty party would have to pay a fine of $100. However, this is a frequent problem at High Ridge Scrub, according to Strange, which either means that no one has been caught in the act, or a $100 fine wasn’t enough to deter the behavior.

This law doesn’t differentiate between litter on public, private, or protected land, just by weight. As a result, the same penalty could be given to someone caught leaving a wrapper on the ground in a public area as someone who left dozens of BB gun pellets on the ground of a protected natural area for endangered wildlife to possibly consume.

While littering seems to not carry a steep penalty, the results of littering could be. The partying could cause distress to tortoises and other endangered animals in the area and if they are hurt or killed by any broken glass or consuming pellets, that would be a crime.

Florida Law states that it is a felony of the third degree to hurt, kill, or harass endangered species. While the fine for this will range depending on the circumstances, it can go up into the thousands of dollars, which would give people more incentive not to engage in this behavior.