FWC has given us the opportunity to recommend to the staff, whether or not we continue to test for exposure to URTD as it relates to the TAKE RULE. We are opposed to the testing for the reasons that are listed in the Initial Petition to Stop URTD Testing. We have put it on this page so individuals can see the reasoning behind this position. If you have any questions related to this, please do not hesitate to email or call me. This is one of the most important elements in fundamentally changing the gopher tortoise conservation effort in this state from permitting and regulation to protection and establishing a doable management plan that will allow this and many other species to survive in perpetuity. Please take time to make yourself heard and support Dropping URTD testing except for research purposes.

Draft, options for discussion and evaluation by GT-2 and Stakeholder Group February-Mar 2006
Options for URTD Testing Associated with Off-Site Relocations, February 2006

Over the last year, the FWC requirement of upper respiratory tract disease (URTD) testing prior to permitted off-site relocation of gopher tortoises has drawn intense criticism from scientists and laypersons. Concerns include blood sampling (e.g., sample size, abuses); variable results due to different strains/species of URTD bacteria; other diseases that are not currently being screened; and, especially, the likelihood of habitat preservation/ tortoise incidental take (i.e., tortoise entombment) becoming the mitigation choice when one or more tortoises on a development site test positive, preventing that population from being relocated off-site.

URTD researchers, concerned scientists, and FWC biologists have met on a number of occasions to discuss the above concerns. All acknowledge problems with the current program, but there is some disagreement on the optimal way to remedy these problems. Therefore, the FWC gopher tortoise issue team has decided to present stakeholders with a simplified spectrum of options associated with URTD testing prior to off-site relocations:

No Change: Continue URTD testing under current guidelines.

Minimal Change*: Continue URTD testing under current guidelines, except for the following:
• Suspect results would not be considered positive (allowing populations with suspects and negatives to be relocated)
• Relax the on-site requirement by allowing tortoises to be relocated with no testing within 2 miles of the development site
• Allow fewer than 5 tortoises to be tested in populations ranging from 5-10 (following 28 days of trapping during the tortoise activity season)

Moderate Change: Suspend URTD testing requirements when: tortoises are relocated to sites with few or no tortoises; tortoises are relocated within 2 miles of the development site; tortoises under 200 mm shell length are relocated.

Substantial Change: Eliminate FWC mandatory URTD testing requirement when all other permitting revisions are implemented; leave discretion regarding testing to recipient site landowner; establish recipient sites for tortoises testing positive; allow no relocations within 2 miles of designated assurance colonies; provide guidelines for tortoise health assessment prior to relocations.

Total Change: immediate elimination of mandatory URTD testing requirement for all off-site relocations.

*Note: the option 2 minimal changes will likely be proposed and reviewed by FWC staff