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HOMETOWN NEWS (Fort Pierce, Florida) 30 June 06 Concern for tortoises in path of development (Liz Brennan)
Ormond Beach: No matter what one's feelings are regarding environmental preservation versus the rights of developers, the image of more than 900 gopher tortoises being buried alive is not a pleasant one.
But that's just what Save the Loop member Eric West believes a permit issued by Florida Fish and Wildlife has given the developers of Plantation Oaks license to do.
Karl Lotspeich, the developer's ecological consultant with Lotspeich and Associates of Winter Park, spoke about the protections the permit affords both the developer and the tortoises. Lotspeich and Associates performed the wildlife study that accompanied the developer's permit application.
Plantation Oaks, which sits on more than 1,000 acres in the Tomoka River basin and partially borders a 23-mile scenic stretch of road known as "The Loop," is planned to encompass more than 1,500 single-family homes.
The over 55 community's Web site also boasts an 18-hole, 200-acre golf course, bocci ball, shuffle board and tennis courts, an aquatics center, activity centers, a softball field and parking and storage for recreational vehicles and boats. Plantation Oaks will be developed in three phases, or sub-communities.
Plantation Oaks has been opposed by Save the Loop members and other Loop-preservation advocates since its inception.
Mr. West said he has many concerns regarding the gopher tortoises and the accuracy of the study, which prompted the state to issue an incidental take permit for 923 tortoises. An incidental take permit protects the developer from being held responsible if members of a wildlife community on the site, in this case, gopher tortoises, are killed during construction.
In exchange, the developer pays a mitigation fee for the purchase and protection of habitat elsewhere in the county for the species the permit applies to.
Although state officials and Mr. Lotspeich could not confirm if the fee had been paid yet, the developers of Plantation Oaks will soon or have already paid close to three quarters of a million dollars that will buy alternate gopher tortoise habitat.
"It's sort of like state-sanctioned bribery," Mr. West said. "It's a way of making money but not doing anything to solve the problem. My position is that the developers should pay the same amount of money to buy the property and move the tortoises (from Plantation Oaks). That's the only way you're not going to come out without a net loss."
Mr. West also wondered if a moratorium of some sort couldn't be issued to delay the project because since the permit was issued, gopher tortoises were upgraded from a species of special concern to a threatened species by the state. He also questioned whether the tortoises were tested for a contagious upper respiratory infection that if found in even one tortoise, would deem the entire population unfit for relocation.
Testing for the respiratory infection is encouraged by the state, but is not a requirement of obtaining a permit. Safe, onsite relocation of tortoises is also a practice the state encourages and authorizes by issuing the permit, but doesn't require, said Rick McCann, a lead biologist with Florida Fish and Wildlife.
Addressing the tortoises' upgrade to a threatened species, Mr. McCann said the re-classification hasn't taken effect yet, but that the state is moving forward with the process.
A gopher tortoise issue team is soliciting and listening to issues of all those concerned, including a stakeholder group, he said.
"We're looking at all issues around gopher tortoises," Mr. McCann said, "including permit requirements and how they might change in the future."
The upgrade process will include a species management plan and a permit process that "will strive to achieve conservation goals of the species," he said.
As for the upper respiratory infection issue, Mr. Lotspeich confirmed that tortoises onsite have been tested, and the infection was found.
And while Mr. McCann said that continuous study of the infection has recently found it's not as deadly as previously thought and that the state's position on not relocating infected tortoises is being re-evaluated, any change in policy wouldn't apply to the Plantation Oaks tortoises. Neither will the pending species upgrade to threatened.
Mr. Lotspeich said the study included almost three weeks of daily bucket checks, which means tortoises who were captured by bucket traps outside of their burrows had blood drawn for testing. The blood samples were sent to an independent lab in Gainesville, the only lab authorized by the Fish and Game Commission to perform the tests, Mr. Lotspeich said.
"The entire population is considered to be contagious, which renders off-site relocation invalid," Mr. Lotspeich said. "At this point, there are no established recipient sites approved for sick tortoises."
Mr. Lotspeich described the onsite study procedures as "exhaustive," and said species such as scrub jays and federally threatened indigo snakes were also studied.
Mr. West questioned whether indigo snakes had been addressed by the developer.
Although the presence of indigo snakes was never confirmed, and although Mr. McCann said the incidental take permit is specific to gopher tortoises, Mr. Lotspeich characterized the guidelines of the permit as a "kind of a blanket " for other species.
Indigo snakes depend on gopher tortoise habitat for survival.
Mr. Lotspeich said indigo snake protection standards are applied through the Army Corps of Engineers, even if their presence is not visibly apparent on the site.
Steve Lau, a biologist at Fish and Wildlife's Vero Beach office where the application was processed and permitted, said the presence of 923 gopher tortoises is a "guesstimate." He said to the best of his recollection, the developer plans to relocate about 400 tortoises. He said the mitigation fee must be paid before any clearing is done.
Mr. Lotspeich could not confirm the number of tortoises slated for onsite relocation.
"I don't know at this point if we could put a number on it," he said, "The incidental take permit allows us to move forward. It also allows for onsite relocation if it is doable."
He said the site's power line easement already has some gopher tortoises living in it, and that tortoises could possibly be relocated to the site's upland preserve areas, but not to the point of overcrowding.
"From a current planning and current land use approval process, this parcel may have been a good choice for (preservation) acquisition," Mr. Lotspeich said. "But the development approval and review was done many, many years ago. "
"From a standpoint of balancing the vested development rights and personal property rights, I think they (the developers) did a pretty good job."
Mr. McCann could not compare the amount of land purchased for tortoise habitat to the amount of mitigation funds collected or the number of incidental take permits issued, but he did say that 22,000 to 23,000 habitat acres have been purchased in relation to gopher tortoise mitigation fees.
"We've worked to acquire the nine mitigation parks we have right now," he said. "The land is protected, fenced and opened to the public. There's an endowed management fund so the land is managed into the future."
"The idea is to protect tortoises and their habitat. We survey the areas we purchase and make sure they have good, healthy populations on them," Mr. McCann said.
As for the land purchase process specific to Plantation Oak's mitigation fee, he said the state is currently going through the due diligence process for an acquisition in the county.
"We're constantly looking for lands to purchase," Mr. McCann said. "Other parcels are going through the process, as well."

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