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Gopher tortoise permitting – agriculture, silviculture and habitat management
January 2006
Gopher tortoise permits are currently not being required for ongoing agricultural or silvicultural practices such as tilling, planting, mowing, and harvesting. Gopher tortoise permits are not required on public or private lands for activities intended to improve habitat for native wildlife. These activities include, but are not limited to, prescribed burning, mowing, disking, roller-chopping, and tree-cutting. However these activities conducted as a precursor to development are not included under this practice.
This has been the practice of the agency since the FWC guidelines for gopher tortoise permitting were adopted. However it is not included in the FWC guidelines pertaining to relocation or incidental take permitting. The lack of a written policy was identified early on by the Gopher Tortoise Issue Team II (GT 2) as a critical issue to be resolved in the development of a revised gopher tortoise permitting process.
This issue was raised again recently in the context of GT 2 discussion on the proposed rule defining gopher tortoise burrows. The rule is scheduled for final consideration at the April Commission meeting. The proposed rule will not change current practice.
In order to assure continuity of this policy in the current permitting process, and continuance of the policy into the revised permitting process, GT 2 is working on the following:
- A revision of the current written guidelines for relocation and incidental take permits will include a brief statement of the policy. Other details of the policy (for example conversion to development and LE considerations) will also be considered. These revisions will be discussed with the gopher tortoise stakeholder group, and are expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2006.
- The policy will be further refined by GT 2 (with stakeholder review) for inclusion in the revised permitting process. Completion of a concept for a revised permitting process is scheduled for the fall of 2006.
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