WFF, 68 Ventures Team Up to Relocate Gopher Tortoises

Silvano said the gopher tortoise has two ranges in Alabama; the western population is federally listed as threatened, and the eastern population is state protected.

"These tortoises are located on the very edge of the eastern range," Silvano said. "So, they (68 Ventures) are doing this for the benefit of the gopher tortoise. They reached out to us and wanted to work with us on a plan for relocation. We work with developers frequently to find a cooperative solution for them to move forward while still protecting the animals. Relocation is often the best recourse for protecting the animals when an area is targeted for development.

"They (68 Ventures) were willing to provide funds to build a waif pen where the gopher tortoises were relocated to. Gopher tortoises have a high homing instinct. If you move them out of an area, they are going to try to make it back to where they came from regardless of how far it is away. So, we build a multiple acre pen with silt fencing that is dug into the ground, and we will relocate gopher tortoises into that pen."

Ideally, after about a year, the gopher tortoise then considers the pen as its home. WFF then takes down the fence, and the gopher tortoises are free to roam. Silvano said 68 Ventures provided the funds for the silt fence and a contractor with a ditch-digging machine to bury the fence to make sure the gopher tortoises did not burrow out under the fencing.

"When we are looking for a site on one of our WMAs, it has to be within the gopher tortoise's range," she said. "If the animals come from the federal range, we relocate to a property within the federal range. What we're looking for is an open pine - in specific longleaf pine - forest with sandy soils. Geneva WMA, Blackwater SOA (Special Opportunity Area) and Perdido WMA are all within their range and have the appropriate soils for the gopher tortoise.

"This relocation to state-protected lands is a prime example of how development and conservation can go hand-in-hand. Developers in our state want to do the right thing."

The gopher tortoises thrive in dry, upland sandhill habitat with an open canopy in the pine forest with an array of ground cover. The animals feed on a variety of grasses and forbs, and a regular prescribed burning regimen promotes the growth of the preferred vegetation.

Although the gopher tortoise garners a great deal of attention, Silvano said WFF's job is to create habitat that benefits the entire ecosystem for numerous native species.

"Our goal with our wildlife agency is to manage for ecosystem function," she said. "Some people think we are managing for only deer and turkey. That's not the case. We manage for habitat to support all the animals that would naturally occur in those habitat types."

This gopher tortoise relocation wasn't the only relocation that 68 Ventures has been involved in. Another tract that is being developed in Daphne at Plantation Hills has a gopher tortoise burrow network. The company and its contractors successfully relocated those gopher tortoises to a tract of land the company donated to the City of Daphne north of Highway 64.

"We do an endangered and threatened species study on every site we evaluate," Kelly said. "Depending on the site, there could be species that are endangered or threatened and we want to be considerate of their habitat. Typically, on the Gulf Coast we're looking for gopher tortoises, Eastern indigo snakes, black bear, eagles, red-cockaded woodpeckers and certain salamanders that are protected."

Conservation Commissioner Blankenship added, "This is one example of why it is so important for ADCNR and Forever Wild to have property where we can house and protect those species. Having publicly owned property set aside allows private property owners to develop their property while, at the same time, allowing us to be able to protect, conserve and increase valuable species like gopher tortoises. 68 Ventures reached out to us. I think that is absolutely awesome. We hope more developers will read this and do the same. This partnership shows it can work and work well."

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