The future of Georgia’s state reptile just got brighter.
The state Department of Natural Resources announced today that the Georgia Gopher Tortoise Initiative has reached its goal of permanently protecting 65 viable tortoise populations. No. 65 is an easement that will conserve over 250 tortoises and their pineland habitats on 1,210 acres just south of Cordele.
The goal is aimed at making sure the gentle, dome-shelled turtles that dig long burrows in sandy south Georgia survive for future generations. Reaching it is testament to the initiative’s work to keep tortoises in the state off the federal Endangered Species Act list, according to DNR Commissioner Walter Rabon.
“We’re incredibly proud of the success of these conservation efforts. Avoiding federal listing not only helps protect wildlife, it also prevents potential economic impacts for our state,” Rabon said. “This collaborative approach has shown great promise as a model for successful wildlife conservation in the future.”
Started in 2015, the initiative has grown to nearly 30 agencies, conservation organizations, companies, foundations and private landowners. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is a member, said in its 2022 decision not to list tortoises in the eastern part of their range that partnerships helped conserve the species, even documenting populations that weren’t known about.
For Austin McKinney of Newnan, signing an easement with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service last month benefiting tortoises on his land made sense. The rolling tract on the Turner/Crisp County line has been in the family 100 years or more. Its forests are rich in groundcover, longleaf pine and outcrops of a unique sandstone called Altamaha grit. Bird dog field trials are held here annually.
“We’ve always valued uplands, quail and wildlife,” McKinney said. “… We take this seriously, and we’re looking forward to continuing to improve the (habitats).”
Gopher tortoises are found in the Coastal Plain from South Carolina to Louisiana. The plate-sized reptiles, the only land tortoise in the eastern U.S., are a keystone species because their burrows are used by more than 300 other species. Some of those animals are rare, like the federally threatened eastern indigo snake.
Habitat loss has threatened to put all gopher tortoises on the Endangered Species Act list. Those in Louisiana, Mississippi and western Alabama were listed as threatened in 1987. And until 2022, tortoises in Georgia and the rest of the species’ range had been a candidate for listing for more than a decade.
When the initiative formed 10 years ago, only 36 of the 125 viable populations known in Georgia were protected. Research suggested that 65 were needed to ensure the tortoise’s long-term survival in the state. The minimum for a self-sustaining population of gopher tortoises is 250 adults.
The initiative set its sights on 65 populations, while also seeking to conserve 100,000 acres of habitat in south Georgia and restore the longleaf pine ecosystems that are essential for gopher tortoises.
The population benchmark has been reached through range-wide surveys to identify key tortoise tracts, extensive coordination with landowners and nonprofits, strategic planning, and deep support, varying from foundations and federal grants and from the U.S. Defense Department to the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program. Results include acquisitions such as Ceylon and Alapaha River wildlife management areas, as well as conservation easements on private lands such as the one with McKinney. Biologists also work with developers to minimize the impacts of their projects on tortoises and burrows.
All help make sure gopher tortoises and other habitat-related native animals and plants are here to stay.
Eleanor Ratchford of the Knobloch Family Foundation, an initiative member and financial supporter of conservation programs, called the effort “a great example of the success that can be achieved when there is collaboration of state, federal, nonprofit and private funders.”
For Monica Thornton, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia, also an initiative member, the 65 protected populations “are proof that if we think big and work together, we can accomplish anything.”
The achievement highlights another aspect, too: There’s more work to be done, according to Matt Elliott, Wildlife Conservation Section chief with the DNR Wildlife Resources Division.
“Conserving species and habitats doesn’t end with land protection,” Elliott said. “Keeping wildlife like the gopher tortoise on the landscape is a long-term proposition and requires continuing management like prescribed burning and sometimes more intensive restoration of degraded habitats.
“But working with the many folks who contributed to the initiative has certainly been the highlight of my career. And going forward, we can apply a lot of what we’ve learned here to helping other species and groups of wildlife, and even think in terms of linkages and conservation corridors.”