Gopher tortoise may become endangered

The gopher tortoise may warrant federal protection as a threatened or endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced earlier this month.

The announcement came after an initial review of a petition seeking to protect the gopher tortoise in the eastern portion of its range under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The gopher tortoise may be put on the federal list of endangered animals. Image courtesy gophertortoise.org.

The Wildlife Service will perform a more thorough status review of the species to determine whether to propose adding the species to the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants.
This finding is the first step in a long process that triggers a more thorough review of all the biological information available.

To ensure this status review is comprehensive, the Service is soliciting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding listing the gopher tortoise throughout all of its range.

The gopher tortoise typically inhabits relatively well-drained, sandy soils and is generally associated with longleaf pine-xeric oak sandhills, but also occurs in scrub, xeric hammock, pine flatwoods, dry prairie, coastal grasslands and dunes, mixed hardwood-pine communities, and a variety of disturbed habitats. Gopher tortoises excavate burrows that average 3 to 52 feet in length and 9 to 23 feet in depth. These burrows, which provide protection from temperature extremes, desiccation, and predators, serve as refuges for approximately 360 other species throughout its range.

The western population of the gopher tortoise, west of the Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers in Alabama then across south Mississippi and extreme southeastern Louisiana, was federally-listed as threatened on July 7, 1987. At the state level, the gopher tortoise is listed as threatened throughout Florida and as Endangered in South Carolina in the following counties: Aiken, Allendale, Colleton, Dorchester, Hampton, and Jasper.

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