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Environmental Groups Are Suing The Federal Government Over Slowing Protections For Gopher Tortoises

Published March 22, 2023 at 4:05 PM EDT

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Environmental groups say they will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect the gopher tortoise.

Elise Bennett, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, based in St. Petersburg, said federal environmental regulators had previously found the tortoises required protection, but now say they will not be listed as a threatened or endangered species.

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made some really bleak projections, including that, by 2100, we could lose nearly three quarters of remaining gopher tortoise populations," Bennett said. "That is an incredibly huge loss, especially considering that the species has been in decline for decades now."

Click here to view the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's findings on gopher tortoises

Gopher tortoises like the same dry, sandy soil that is favored by developers. Florida law encourages the relocation of tortoises, which Bennett says perpetuates the destruction of its habitat.

The service has projected that by the end of the century, nearly three-quarters of the species could be lost — primarily to development that favors the same high, sandy soil where the tortoises live.

"We have come together to to challenge this decision because we simply think that it is wrong based on the science that we have, showing that the gopher tortoise is not only in continued decline," Bennett said, "but that its main threat — which is habitat destruction from urban development — is continuing and it's only growing. We haven't stopped the spread. It's getting worse."

Matthew Aresco is a board member at Nokuse Education, the other environmental group involved in the lawsuit.

Aresco says gopher tortoises have shovel-like front legs and strong, thick back legs that help them dig intricate burrows, which are relied upon by more than 360 other species. Gopher tortoise burrows are considered key features in the large, unfragmented upland ecosystems these communities of wild animals need to survive.

"We are committed to the conservation of the gopher tortoise, and to fulfill that commitment we must challenge the Fish and Wildlife Service's flawed protection decision," Aresco said. "Without stronger regulation and protection under the Endangered Species Act, gopher tortoise populations and their habitat will continue to decline."

According to Bennett, tortoises have already lost 97% of the longleaf pine savannas they historically inhabited and continue to be severely threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation driven by urbanization. This limits food availability and options for burrow sites, which exposes them to being crushed in their burrows during construction, run over by cars, or senselessly attacked by people. Tortoises are also threatened by disease, invasive species like fire ants, and climate change.

Scientists Look In Tortoise Burrow, Find 4.5-ft Alligator 'Smiling' At Them

Hundreds of species in the southeastern United States rely on tortoise burrows to make their homes. Alligators, however, are not usually included on this list.

That's why biologists at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were so surprised when they peered into a gopher tortoise burrow in Tattnall county on Wednesday, only to find a 4.5-foot gator "smiling" back at them.

"Gators often winter in dens or holes along waterways," the Wildlife Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said in a Facebook post. "But the burrow is farther than eight football fields from a significant water source. In between is rugged, fire-suppressed sandhills scrub, as well as other tortoise burrows, so why does this gator travel so far to use this hole?"

This photo shows the 4.5-foot alligator outside the gopher tortoise burrow in Tattnall County, Georgia. It's rare to see alligators use tortoise burrows. Wildlife Resources Division - Georgia DNR/Facebook

The department's biologists have found alligators in this same burrow two years in a row, and once in a nearby burrow in 2021. They suspect that it is the same gator each time, although they cannot be sure.

Gopher tortoises are Georgia's official state reptile. It is the only tortoise species in the U.S. That is naturally found east of the Mississippi River, according to the Florida Wildlife Commission, and its range stretches from southeastern Louisiana through to the southern part of South Carolina.

This photo shows a gopher tortoise heading into its burrow in Florida. Gopher tortoises are considered a "keystone species." Shellphoto/Getty

The species play several important roles in their surrounding ecosystems, which is why they are often referred to as a "keystone species." In other words, removing gopher tortoises from their natural habitat would have a disproportionately large effect on their surrounding ecosystem, relative to their population size. One of their most important services is digging their burrows.

According to the University of Georgia, gopher tortoise burrows can measure up to 40 feet long and 10 feet deep. To build these, they require areas with well-drained, sandy soil and use their paddle-like front legs as shovels.

Over 350 species rely on these burrows for shelter, including snakes, frogs, owls and mice. Even alligators have been known to use tortoise burrows at least twice before in Georgia, but in both cases, the hole was near an area of wetland, and the alligators were not seen going back to the same holes year after year. That is why the present case is so unusual.

This footage from a game camera shows the alligator peering out from inside the gopher tortoise burrow. Alligators have been known to use tortoise burrows at least twice before in Georgia. Wildlife Resources Division - Georgia DNR/Facebook

"Our biologists speculate there's memory involved," the wildlife division said. "The alligator can't be following last year's scent trail, so we can only assume it's remembering that's the place to go."

The biologists have set up a game camera to document the activity of the gator.

Endangered Status Sought For Gopher Tortoise In Alabama, Three Other States

Environmental groups are preparing to sue the federal government for not listing the gopher tortoise as endangered in the four states.

Gopher tortoises imperiled by loss of habitat largely caused by human development should be placed on the endangered species list in four southern states, environmental groups said Wednesday as they prepared to sue the federal government over the issue.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Nokuse Education filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision last year not to list the gopher tortoise as endangered or threatened in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and eastern Alabama.

The center noted there are some state-level protections for the burrowing tortoises but those generally require the animals to be moved from a development site and do not protect their habitat overall. The tortoises have lost 97% of the longleaf pine savannas where they lived for millions of years in the South.

"Without lifesaving Endangered Species Act protection for our gopher tortoises, urban sprawl will keep driving them ever closer to extinction," said attorney Elise Bennett, the center's Florida director.

"There are more protections that come from being endangered versus 'threatened,'" explained Cassandra Worlund, Live Animal Manager for the Cook Museum of Natural Science in Decatur, Ala.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has projected that 75% of the current gopher tortoise population will be lost by 2100. The burrows they dig with shovel-like front legs, which can extend 30 feet (9 meters) underground, also support an estimated 360 other species that use them.

Burrows "can be six to 10 feet deep into the ground," said Worlund. "Gopher tortoises are considered a 'keystone species. Without that species, there are other species that would be threatened as well."

The tortoises are listed as endangered in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and western Alabama but efforts to list them in their eastern range have proved futile.

The Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in October 2022 that "the risk factors acting on the gopher tortoise and its habitat, either singly or in combination, are not of sufficient imminence, scope, or magnitude" to warrant threatened or endangered status. That decision led to the pending lawsuit.

Gopher tortoises once inhabited more than 92 million acres (37 million hectares) of land in the southeastern U.S. But now have only a fraction of that space due to human development, agriculture, climate change, invasive species and other issues, according to the center's lawsuit notice.

They can live up to 80 years but reach reproductive age slowly.

The Fish and Wildlife Service declined to comment. 

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