SUN-SENTINEL; State's wildlife agency sets up team to save tortoises...

SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 28 February 06 State's wildlife agency sets up team to save tortoises from the bulldozer (David Fleshler)

Faced with mounting public outrage, the state wildlife agency is considering changes to its long-standing policy of allowing developers to bury gopher tortoises alive when they build new houses, roads and schools.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set up a team to look for ways to save tortoises from the bulldozers, as animal advocates press to end a practice that condemns thousands of them to lingering deaths.
Under current law, a developer obtains a permit to bury tortoises by agreeing to conserve tortoise habitat on-site or paying to buy it elsewhere. KB Home, for example, received a permit in November to kill 119 tortoises to build houses in Osceola County, paying $154,748 into a state fund to acquire 20 acres of tortoise habitat.
Wildlife advocates denounce such payments as "blood money" that allows construction to go forward while permitting the decline of an ecologically vital species. Tortoise burrows provide homes for hundreds of animals, such as the Florida mouse and indigo snake. When tortoises are buried -- "entombed," as the state puts it -- their slow metabolism allows them to survive for months before dying of starvation, thirst or suffocation.
"What would we think about a 13-year-old who went into a field and deliberately, methodically buried a gopher tortoise alive?" asked Rebecca Eagan of Winter Park, who serves on the steering committee of a group advising the state on gopher tortoises. "Would we not find this troubling? ... Why is what would be horrifying, spine-chilling behavior in a child considered utterly normal and OK behavior in an adult?"
Since 1991, the state has issued permits to kill about 74,000 tortoises, although biologists say some likely survived. State officials now are considering alternatives, including rescuing tortoises from development sites and trucking them to secure habitat elsewhere in Florida.
The Panhandle, in particular, offers an excellent habitat that currently has few tortoises because of the reptile's historic popularity as a dinner item. Called "scrub chickens" and then "Hoover chickens" during the Depression, tortoises wound up in stewpots and frying pans throughout North Florida, where Florida Cracker cuisine prevailed. Florida banned tortoise hunting in the late 1980s, and state officials are optimistic they can restock these areas.
Leading candidates in the Panhandle are Apalachicola National Forest, the Nokuse Plantation of Walton County and Eglin Air Force Base, which combined could provide havens for tens of thousands of tortoises. The Nokuse Plantation, for example, is the smallest of the three but offers 16,000 acres for a species that can live two to an acre. The sprawling air base has long been a refuge for black bears and red-cockaded woodpeckers.
Before the state can start trucking tortoises to these areas, biologists need to develop ways to address genetic differences and avoid spreading a deadly respiratory disease. Past tortoise relocations have a weak record, with fewer than 50 percent remaining a year later, and the rest thought to have wandered off or died.
Greg Holder, the wildlife commission's southwest regional director, said he's confident his group can work out these difficulties. Once relocation proves successful in the Panhandle, he said the state can expand it to Florida residents who have inquired in the past about offering their land as tortoise havens.
"I'm really excited about the potential we have for restocking," said Holder, who expects to have a plan ready by summer 2007. "If it works, it opens the door for some exciting things with respect to securing that population."
The public concern over killing tortoises grew last August when the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that Wal-Mart had obtained a permit to kill five gopher tortoises for a Supercenter in Lake Park in northern Palm Beach County. In compensation, Wal-Mart paid $11,409 to protect 1.49 acres.
Dozens of people called or wrote to the commission to protest. Efrain Marti, a West Palm Beach middle school student, sent a petition with 709 signatures. Tiffany Devine of The Acreage in western Palm Beach County, called the Humane Society of the United States, which sent an e-mail alert urging members to protest to Wal-Mart and the wildlife commission.
"Nothing deserves to die that way," Devine said. "For three long months they are struggling for air and gasping, and they can't eat, and may be entombed with another animal inside the burrow."
The current practice, allowing developers to kill tortoises in exchange for protecting land, was intended to conserve the species while bowing to the inevitability of urban growth. But state biologists say it hasn't worked. While it has led to the protection of about 22,000 acres of habitat, the species has suffered a net loss of habitat and a decline in numbers.
Tortoise habitat in Florida has declined by 69 percent, mostly since 1910, according to a draft report for the state wildlife commission. The report estimates that Florida has fewer than 785,000 tortoises, representing a decline of at least 50 percent over the past three generations. The report recommends changing the tortoise's legal classification from "species of special concern" to "threatened" to reflect its worsened prospects.
Even though they've obtained permits to kill tortoises, some developers say they try to move them to safety. At Juliette Falls, a golf course community under construction near Ocala, developer Vikings LLC obtained a permit to kill 470 tortoises. Tom Cioffi, director of operations, said the company will try to move as many tortoises as possible to a 136-acre conservation area.
Cara Kane, spokeswoman for KB Home, said, "We recognize that in fulfilling our central business mission we must be good environmental stewards." She said the company is exploring ways to make projects compatible with the environment.
State officials caution that development can't be stopped and tortoises will continue to die. What they hope to do is arrest the species' decline.
"We certainly aren't going to stop all habitat loss, that's a given," said Joan Berish, research biologist with the state wildlife commission. "Habitat loss will continue as a result of urbanization in Florida. That is something my agency does not control."
Rescue for tortoises also may come from cities and counties. Lee, Collier, Hillsborough and Martin counties have ordinances that make it difficult for developers to kill them, even with a state permit, and the Lake County city of Minneola is considering a similar law.
Although they've been quietly writing checks and receiving permits for years, developers say they're growing uncomfortable with the business of killing gopher tortoises.
"I don't think we have to stop development," said Steve Godley, a consultant who represents the Florida Home Builders Association on the gopher tortoise steering committee. "I think a lot of them if they had the choice would rather move [the turtles]. Wal-Mart's not going to make that mistake again. They got pounded for that, and they've gotten pounded enough in the press."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctortoisesfeb28,0,4611014.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines