VENICE GONDOLIER (Florida) 09 August 06 Tortoise move goes smoothly (Rollie Reynolds)
This week saw the successful relocation of eight gopher tortoises away from a site targeted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for clearing.
In a recent settlement agreement with the city of Venice, the DEP required the 3 to 4 acres of the area north of the tennis courts on the east side of Pinebrook Road to be cleared of lime sediment material that has been there for several years.
The material was left over from the lime treatment process the city had used until 1990 to remove salts, minerals and sediment from its drinking water.
The DEP had expressed concerns that the lime pits might eventually become a hazard to the underground water supply near that area, so it identified a number of alternate locations where the material can be safely moved. One is at the Venice Municipal Airport for use in the runway safety areas that will become part of the project now under way at the airport.
The removal of the lime pits was complicated, however, by the presence of an unknown number of gopher tortoises that have made their homes in that area for the past several years. Since the tortoises are considered an endangered species and protected by federal law, the process of relocating them had to be approved, coordinated and supervised by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The commission hired Biological Research Associates of Sarasota to do the work of relocation in conjunction with DeJonge Excavating Contractors, which is providing the special heavy equipment needed, and the city of Venice Utilities Department, which is providing additional equipment and personnel to do clearing of brush for a worksite road and to assist with the relocation effort.
The project required a great deal of strenuous work and careful, precise earth-moving. It revealed 23 burrows throughout the area, but most of them turned out to inactive -- old dens left by previous residents.
As he directed the digging to follow and uncover each burrow, Bill Hentges, the BRA representative assigned to this project, used a small, specially built remote TV camera to explore the winding depths of any den into which he could not see directly.
"This is one of the most difficult projects I've been involved with," Hentges said. "The heat and humidity are bad enough, but in this case there are steep embankments around the lime ponds, and a system of well-established burrows that often go very deep and wind back and forth under the area, instead of just straight down into the bank."
The workmen also found that someone had trespassed into the property sometime in the last few days -- perhaps over the weekend -- and set up a paintball "arena" in the dry area of the lime pit.
Using old tires, wood and concrete blocks, as well as several feel of the plastic silt fencing used by the city to prevent the relocated tortoises from returning to the area, the vandals had obviously spent a considerable amount of time in the secluded area.
Utilities Manager Chris Sharek reported that this kind of vandalism has happened there before, but no one has actually been caught in the act. Someone even went so far as to cut through the chain-link fence to gain access to the property out of sight from the nearby road.
"They may not be aware that they are putting both themselves and the endangered tortoises at risk by playing around that area," he said. "But they certainly know they are trespassing and breaking the law, since the property is posted."
Tortoise move goes smoothly