WHY SHOULD THE TORTOISE BE UP LISTED TO THREATENED STATUS?

The effort to up list the tortoise has received more support than any other action on any other species. Why? Because the tortoises are still around in numbers so that people see them and know when they are being killed in development areas.

Why do scientists support the effort? There has been a study done by a wide number of scientists worldwide on the “symptoms of extinction”. The loss of habitat and numbers of animals disappearing at a certain rate clearly tells us that that species is definitely on the road to extinction. FWC has used very conservative methods of gathering information on the rate of loss not just tortoises directly but habitat in Florida. In fact, FWC did not use data on the greatest loss of habitat and tortoises, THE SINGLE FAMILY HOME DEVELOPMENT. Without a doubt in most every county in the state the single lot sales are far greater than those in being developed and sold in large subdivisions or DRI’s. One can likely double the rate of loss just from this form of development...

GTCI has attempted to work with private land owners and their organizations and others to develop a method of mitigation that would not cause the tortoises to be an economic predator but through its up listing and adoption of proper policies would reduce overall costs for conservation and, to support the development of local conservation lands programs and help the great need for conservation.

PLEASE BE SURE TO INCLUDE IN YOUR COMMENTS THAT YOU SUPPORT THE UP LISTING OF THE GOPHER TORTOISE TO THREATENED.

PERMITTING ISSUES
The greatest problems with the proposed Management Plan are with its permitting and fees proposed. It would have been best if FWC would have presented these in concept only.

1. SINGLE FAMILY HOME / FIVE TORTOIES OR FEWER

What is wrong with the FWC Plan? They are the largest TAKE PERMIT and cause of ENTOMBMENT or direct killing of tortoises in the state.

1. There is no way that FWC can enforce this permit except where County officials require the permit to obtain a land clearing permit.
2. The permit is virtually voluntary because of the lack of enforcement statewide. Now FWC has put a huge fee on a permit they cannot enforce. These fees change low income families the same rate as those buying mini horse ranges.
3. There is no conservation value in the permit. Tortoises are mostly left on site even though the vast majority of people do not want them. They are killed by the clearing.
4. There are no fees that are going to support protection of tortoises or support of conservation lands.

We have surveyed at least 17 counties and found that they would be extremely interested in developing an agreement with FWC that would turn this permitting effort over to them. THEY WOULD NEED TO RECEIVE FUNDING FROM THE PROCESS (As they do with land clearing, septic tank and other permits they provide and enforce.).

By doing this, it would provide eyes on the ground and insure that the tortoises were managed. What about counties that did not want to participate? FWC should charge fees that go to more enforcement in those counties along with other fees from other development to support conservation (See below.). The lack of financial incentives would encourage political support for this permitting through support for open space and other programs and a possible over all reduction in fees charged to developers and funds paid for relocation to private land owners.

Communities with appropriate natural areas and willingness of the communities should in fact be able to enter into an agreement with FWC to care for and protect their tortoises. We have proof that such programs are extremely successful.

The proposals almost have it right. They are close, but not close enough.

1. INCIDENTAL TAKE

Incidental Take as it now is permitted ceases no later than July 31, with no grandfathering and a maximum of 6 months to complete the clearing of the land.

2. RELOCATION PERMITS

All permits should be considered as relocation permits. Tortoises are to be extracted from the development site and placed in approved relocation sites. These can be on site or off, on private or public lands. This activity must be done by well trained staff with documentation as to training including backhoe operators, consultants and relocation site managers.

FEES

There are two sets of fees that the donor site is responsible for, one is the cost of extraction and development of the relocation site. The second is the fee for the loss of the tortoise habitat. The cost of the loss is somewhat based on the value of the land at an acre for acre replacement...

Relocation Fee
This cost includes the following:
1. Total survey of the property for gopher tortoises and habitat as part of the over all Environmental Report required on the property. Note there should be a fine by FWC (to go into a habitat management plan) for any surveys undercounting the tortoises by 25%.
   
   
2. The extraction of the tortoises to a relocation site.
   
   
3. . A fee to pay for the development and management of the relocation sites.

Management and Land Use Fee

1. There is a fee to the land owner or manager for accepting tortoises. This is based on what the market will bare. It includes payment for the loss of other economic uses of the land like reduction in silviculture, or cattle to insure the tortoise habitat on the relocation site is acceptable. In the case of state or county conservation lands, these fees can be used for monitoring and management of conservation lands to insure they are properly managed in perpetuity.
   
   
   
2. A fee related to replacing and protecting upland habitats. We know that one of the greatest losses in tortoise habitat is due to the lack of funds for monitoring and management on county and state conservation lands. These fees will go into either a state wide trust fund (nonprofit managed) that will be developed at a level that the interest on the principle will pay for annual efforts to bring in fire and other management needs to insure tortoise habitats. Or, it would pay for conservation easements for private lands accepting conservation lands.
   
   
   
3. FWC must commit to getting a statewide conservation tax exemption that would protect people who are taking tortoises and other upland species from being drained by the high taxes charged on raw lands. These exemptions would help agriculture interest and single family homes of greater than 20 acres to keep their lands in natural habitat and to manage those habitats.
   
   
   
4. COOPERATIVE CONTRACTS BY FWC, DEVELOPERS, AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS
   
   In lieu of permits, the stakeholders would work together to develop statewide plans that would not only protect tortoises but other upland species that are currently ignored or are mitigated separately, even though they use the same habitats. These plans would be the basis for a team effort that would encourage and support county conservation lands programs and private landowners to get involved with relocation of a number of species. THIS METHOD WILL SAVE DEVELOPERS MONEY, HAVE THE MONEY SPENT LOCALLY FOR OPEN SPACE AND CONSERVATION LANDS, AND SUPPORT WISE DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING OF ENDANGERED LANDS.
   
   Jointly developed relocation plans could actually help with the relocation of single family home permits and tortoises from county and state roads, school and other infrastructure development, thus reducing fees from developers and tax payers.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS OF FWC, COUNTY, CONSULTANTS, BACKHOE OPERATORS AND RELOCATION SITE MANAGERS.

Over the past few weeks, we have been seeking help with a large rescue effort. We needed a large number of backhoe operators to help extract tortoises from the site. We have found that there a number who are considered to be highly qualified that were neither trained in safe digging (OSHA) requirements or had a clue about digging for tortoises. We also found that it takes weeks of training for excellent operators to know all they need to know to do tortoise extraction. We also have found that most consultants and land managers have little or know training. This lack of training leads to losses of tortoises through poorly counting tortoises on development sites, bad extractions, and poor development and management of relocation sites.

We found that there are no FWC staff working in the tortoise conservation program that have done or have been specifically trained or qualified to carry out the mitigation procedures required by FWC. This is paramount of nonhunters being responsible for hunting programs. This has led to serious and arbitrary permitting decisions in the past and the loss of both habitat and tortoises in the past

Require people who are involved with tortoises relocation and conservation to receive minimum training similar to those that are doing Wetlands Delineation are required to have. Managers should have biology or wildlife degrees but demonstrate specific hands on training. If they want to use previous experience then they should be tested.

RELOCATION-Relcoation policy should take effect no later than 31 July, the same time Take is stopped as the primary mitigation programs

Relocation must be done using the best information possible to evaluate and permit relocation sites. Permitting should be done in a way that promotes land owners and managers to provide the best forage, canopy cover and other needs (See Ashton and Ashton 2004 for a complete checklist ). Permitting should allow as many tortoises per acre as is supported by data provided by the recipient site manager. It should be noted that sites are barely feasible with a density number of 2 tortoises per acre. The current arbitrary decision is counter to encouraging all landowners to be involved in relocation and simply is potentially putting tortoises into worse situations than on a Take site.

Relocation must be into temporary (minimum of 6 months) or permanent fenced relocation sites. These are the actual locations where the tortoises are expected to inhabit permanently. Without this proven method, it has been shown that a large number of tortoise will die as they try to home from the drop site.

PLEASE SEND THE FWC YOUR COMMENTS AND IDEAS. ALSO PLEASE LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU SUPPORT THE UP LISTING OF THE GOPHER TORTOISE.

Please be sure to send your comments in to FWC by June 14. Written comments on the gopher tortoise management plan should be addressed to Gopher Tortoise Management Plan, 620 South Meridian Street, Mail Station 2A, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600, or submitted to the following email address: gt_plan@myFWC.com.

PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND THE FWC COMMISSION MEETING ON THE UPLISTING AND MAKE YOUR FEELINGS KNOWN.

FWC Requests Comments About Revised Management Plans May 24, 2007

COMMENTS ON THE SECOND DRAFT OF THE FWC TORTOISE MANAGEMENT PLAN May 21, 2007

FWC News Release May 7, 2007