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ASSISTANCE WITH MITIGATION OR PRIVATE WILDLIFE RESERVES
Benefits of Ashton Biodiversity  The Ashton Biodiversity Research & Preservation Institute, Inc. is a nonprofit organization created to provide information, education and research leading to the protection of biodiversity (See Goals). Services provided include training staff, providing instruction manuals and documents, presenting workshops throughout the Southeast, and giving advice and direction when requested. At the point that the landowner or manager requests intensive on-site work, specific plans and monitoring programs, the work is turned over to Ashton, Ashton & Associates, Inc. (AA&A). This is a for-profit consulting firm specializing in developing protected areas, managing wildlife, preparing applications for permits, writing Habitat Management Plans for FWS and FWC Incidental Take Permits or for creating the best management practices to sustain wildlife populations and biodiversity. The Institute does not have the budget to sustain such services for just a few members. When donations provided for the work done do not cover the expense involved, the person requesting assistance is notified that AA&A will handle the project. AA&A will create a cost estimate for the work being requested and how it will be carried out. AA&A's long-standing motto is: "Our primary client is the resource!"
Some key points:
Most frequently the Institute is called in by landowners who are concerned about how to protect wildlife on their own land, whether it is a one-acre lawn or 15,000 acres of timberland.
The Institute is called in when a neighborhood wishes to develop a volunteer program or find other methods of protecting wildlife as the area is being developed.
The Institute is consulted to review plans made by staff or environmental consultants, or to evaluate the methodology and accuracy of data collected and determine whether the recommendations are the best for both the resource and economics of the project. This is done by concerned citizens, conservation organizations and local agencies.
The Institute is consulted when there is a need for education of management staff or environmental personnel.
AA&A is frequently called in:
Often the environmental consultant will recommend that AA&A be called in. This happens when more specialized expertise and experience is required, especially if the client is concerned about the preservation of natural resources. Many environmentalists are aware of the extremely difficult projects that have been carried out successfully, and refer people and agencies to us.
Landowners are concerned about conserving natural resources on site or elsewhere and want to go beyond the state guidelines for relocation or on site mitigation. They want to integrate land use, people and conservation into their program. The work usually includes evaluating the site, formulating management plans based on multiple goals, and developing and installing a permanent monitoring program. We may also be asked to carry out certain aspects of monitoring and management.
Developing Country Management and Monotoring Programs
Institute staff has been working with a number of counties including Alachua, Pinellas, Lee, Collier, as well as several cities in developing plans for obtaining property as part of land conservation programs or to develop upland mitigation banks for various projects from DOT to other government land requirements that may require relocation or mitigation of tortoises and other protected species. We can do site evaluations to determine the general acceptability of the site, the type of preparations and management that would be required, acceptable land use, and monitoring. Other services include:
- Creating county-wide plans with staff and stakeholders for protecting habitats and wildlife in perpetuity.
- Staff training for agency or environmental consultant firms or land managers. (See course listings for some examples.)
- Creating management and monitoring plans for individual sites or for countywide conservation lands.
- Collecting data and working with staff to obtain permits.
- Working with staff to prepare the site and undertake relocation or other mitigation activities.
- Putting the monitoring stations in place and taking baseline data to measure effects of management, overall health of the tortoise population.
Developing Wildlife Preserves  Many private landowners not wish to sell their property to state or local governments. They do however, have great concern for wildlife, including deer and turkey as well as gopher tortoises and other protected species. Our staff have a great deal of experience working with private landowners in developing simple, low-cost plans to protect wildlife while not interfering with other activities. The Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative, a program of the Institute, has a registry of people who are concerned about gopher tortoises and upland habitats. This program is called the Gopher Tortoise Reserve Program and has approximately 165,000 acres registered. It is part of an international program, The Tortoise Reserve out of North Carolina. This program has more than a million acres listed. Members of this group receive advice, materials on management methods, and other assistance from Institute Staff. Assistance includes:
- How to manage for tortoises or how to avoid harming residents.
- Creating a management plan and monitoring program.
- Working with the landowner in obtaining grants, safe harbor agreements, tax relief and other similar activities for managing many different protected species.
- Work with landowners who wish to put their lands in conservation easements.
- Organizing appropriate staff and expertise to carry out management, including prescribed burns, selective timber cutting, and the establishment and maintenance of monitoring programs.
- Establishing sustainable programs in nature-based tourism (if appropriate).
- Wildlife management in urban areas for parks, nature centers and private lands.
Planning on-site Conservation or Mitigation  If planned properly, on-site mitigation can sustain wildlife for people who are living in and around the property. However, on-site mitigation parks are notoriously poorly planned, frequently at the expense of the resident species, and usually to the dismay of the home owners' association who has to manage the lands after the site has been developed.
We ask that you contact us before you meet with the planner or architect who is going to create your site plan, or even before you buy the property that you are considering. This avoids costly problems.
The Institute can provide:
- Developing a plan that will work for the community and would be acceptable to FWC.
- Work with officials to work through conflicting regulations such as local rules on managing for native habitat while having to manage for a large population of tortoises on the same site.
- Establish a site that can be used by residents, and that will not take professional biologists to manage the site in the future.
- Assist with developing by-laws and deed restrictions that will be difficult to change or to ignore by the homeowner's association.
Relocation of Tortoises (Mitigation Sites or Banking) There is a great demand for gopher tortoise relocation sites across the state. We will work with landowners who have at least 50 acres of potential habitat to develop a plan that would set up the site as a recipient site. It should be noted that we will require that the site be prepared and managed to GTCI standards. These are designed to assure that the relocation is successful and that the tortoises and habitat are managed and monitored with the goal of sustaining them in perpetuity. This means that the cost of relocation collected from the donor site will be used to pay for the management of the tortoise, not as a financial windfall for the landowner.
We are frequently asked to carry out tortoise relocations. We have one of the most skilled staff in excavating burrows in the U.S. The whole team teaches our professional level courses and has the skills to keep from killing tortoises in the burrow. (Our surveys of consultants indicate that they entomb 25% or more of the tortoises in their burrows because of their lack of training or skills.) We handle the tortoises properly and get them to the recipient site safely.
For assistance or more information, contact Ray Ashton at hypertortoise@aol.com. |
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