Rare Tortoises' "Entombment" to End, Florida Officials Say

Adrianne Appel
for National Geographic News

August 10, 2007

Florida last week issued the last permits for its controversial "pave-and-pay" program, which has so far killed tens of thousands of rare gopher tortoises.

Under the program, land developers have been allowed to pave over tortoise burrows if they pay into a fund for state land conservation.

But that means the tortoises die from suffocation even as large chunks of their habitat are destroyed.

In response to public outcry, Florida wildlife officials recently announced that they will phase out the program.

"The people of Florida have spoken, and they are not going to tolerate entombment any longer," said Joy Hill, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC).

Gopher tortoises, found in six southeastern states, live in sandy areas at higher elevations.

The reptiles spend much of their time in 15- to 48-foot-long (5- to 15-meter-long) burrows, which are 6 feet (2 meters) or more underground.

The tortoises are considered imperiled in a number of states. In Florida gopher tortoises were named as a "species of special concern" in 1979.

Pave and Slay?

Under Florida's pave-and-pay program, developers obtained "take" permits from the state to build on top of tortoise burrows—essentially entombing them alive.

About 94,000 tortoises may have been buried since pave-and-pay began in 1991. Some suffered slow deaths due to dehydration or starvation, while others were crushed by heavy machinery.

"Sadly, tortoises were entombed as buildings were going in," said Joan Berish, a wildlife biologist with the FWCC.

Some survived the construction, but face an uncertain future without a habitat, Berish said.

The commission estimates that though 26,000 acres (10,500 hectares) of land were preserved under pave-and-pay's conservation provision, about 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares) of tortoise habitat were lost to development.

Entombment Loophole

Under pressure from the public, wildlife scientists, and animal welfare groups, the commission began a new permitting policy on July 31.

Developers who encounter tortoises on their property must relocate the reptiles, even if only to temporary sanctuaries. (Related: "Saving Sea Turtles With a Lights-Out Policy in Florida" [March 10, 2003].)

"In the short term we're being pretty lenient about where tortoises go, just to get them out of harm's way," Berish said.

But animal welfare advocates point out that because of a loophole in the old pave-and-pay permits, some tortoise killings will continue.

The pave-and-pay permits have an open-ended deadline, so that any permits acquired prior to July 31 allow tortoise killing and must be honored, Berish said.

"These are legal documents," she added.

The loophole should be fixed, said Jennifer Hobgood, southeast regional coordinator for the Humane Society of the United States.

"This grandfathering allows the destruction of minimally thousands of tortoises that will be allowed to be buried alive," Hobgood said. She estimates the deaths will be in the ten-thousand range.

Relocation Plans

Commissioners are trying to locate developers with outstanding permits to try and convince them not to kill the tortoises, Berish said.

"All we can do is work with folks who haven't used their permits and encourage them to realize the public sentiment that entombing tortoises isn't something they want to do at this point," she said.

"Nobody wants to be the developer who is having tortoises entombed on national TV."

In about two years, the commission hopes to put in place a broad tortoise management plan that will require the animals—which can live 40 to 60 years—to be relocated to long-term conservation lands.

Edie Ousley, a spokesperson for the Florida Home Builders Association, said her organization welcomes the end of pave-and-pay.

"It [has] never been our desire to entomb a gopher tortoise. We always prefer to relocate," Ousley said.

"The new proposed rulings we are extremely excited about."

The 50,000-acre (20,234-hectare) privately owned Nokuse Plantation in Florida's panhandle (see Florida map) will accept a thousand tortoises a year, said plantation manager Matthew Aresco.

"It's such a large block of land, so they'll have plenty of room to move around," Aresco said.

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