The Gopher Tortoise is Gaining Ground
In September, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (Georgia DNR) announced that the 65th gopher tortoise population (minimum of 250 individuals) had been permanently protected on a 1,210-acre conservation easement in Turner and Crisp counties.
Protection of the 65th population has been a long-time goal of the Georgia Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative, which was formed in 2015 as a multi-partner coalition to protect and restore the longleaf pine ecosystem of the coastal plain – prime habitat for the gopher tortoise. In 2015, just 36 of the state’s 125 known viable populations were protected. Georgia DNR states that “research suggested that 65 were needed to ensure the tortoise’s long-term survival in the state.” Georgia Conservancy is a founding partner of GGTCI, and much of our private landowner outreach has been focused on pineland conservation and gopher tortoise protection.
For years, conserving the longleaf pine ecosystem has been a high conservation priority in Georgia and for the Georgia Conservancy. Fueled by the need to accelerate this work to benefit one of this ecosystem’s keystone species, the gopher tortoise, GGTCI reached another major goal in 2022 – the permanent protection of 100,000 acres of gopher tortoise habitat. Other species that depend on longleaf habitat have benefited from these efforts, including the striped newt, indigo snake, and gopher frog. Additionally, the success has resulted in the establishment of new public recreation areas for hunting, fishing, hiking, and other outdoor activities.
Importantly, the need for the gopher tortoise to be listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act has been precluded, highlighting the important role that habitat conservation plays in species protection.
via the Georgia Conservancy – links & emphasis mine
A very happy reminder that conservation is a win, win, win for everyone on this little planet we share. Also, habitat is all they really need. It’s astonishing to me that if we just let species live somewhere, they can recover.
