FLORIDA TODAY (Melbourne) 09 January 07 County ponders proposal to save gopher tortoises - Development burying many animals alive (James Dean)
Brevard County commissioners today will consider a five-phase plan to help save more gopher tortoises from being buried alive by development.
Key to the proposal, which is estimated to cost $167,500 during the next two years, is a survey of county-owned lands to both identify habitat where gopher tortoises could be relocated and determine how many might be affected by county building projects.
Officials say having that information is necessary before considering any regulation banning the bulldozing of gopher tortoise burrows, which the state allows with permits.
"Everybody wants to save the tortoises. The problem is, where do you put them?" said Virginia Barker, a supervisor with the county's Natural Resources Management Office. "That is not an easy thing to answer."
In 2005, development in Brevard displaced nearly 1,000 gopher tortoises, a species the state upgraded to "threatened" in June.
About a third of those were relocated; many of the rest were likely "entombed."
In August, local environmentalists asked the county to prohibit the practice they consider inhumane.
They are pleased with the county's plan, which an advisory committee of building and construction industry representatives also endorsed in October.
"It's a start," said Maureen Rupe, president of the Partnership for a Sustainable Future, a coalition of environmental groups. "I understand they cannot do an ordinance until they've got all the other things in place."
It costs about $2,000 daily to attempt the delicate process of gopher tortoise relocations, Barker said.
But more relocations are expected now that the state has scrapped costly tests for diseases, a change that would be updated in county policy.
The county also recommends public forums to discuss incentives that would encourage voluntary relocation, and building partnerships with landowners who might accept displaced gopher tortoises.
Meanwhile, the county is awaiting new regulations from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
County ponders proposal to save gopher tortoises