Both state and federal partners share a desire to conserve gopher tortoise populations and habitat in order to prevent regulatory constraints and carry out their missions to the best of their ability, be it training missions on military installations or forest management on U.S. Forest Service lands. The gopher tortoise is listed as threatened in the western portion of its range, while it’s a candidate species for possible federal listing in the eastern portion of the range.
Why? Military installations provide habitat for significant populations of federally-listed and at-risk species. These species can and do adversely impact training and testing on military installations due to Endangered Species Act (ESA) requirements. At-Risk species are defined as those species which have been proposed for listing by the Fish and Wildlife Service, designated as candidate species by the Service or which the Service has been petitioned to list under the ESA.
How? The SERPPAS Threatened, Endangered, and At-Risk Species Work Group collaborates with federal, state and other partners to develop and promote innovative strategiesfor proactive conservation of at-risk species and increased flexibility for addressing impacts to both listed species and military missions. These approaches include conservation agreements, mitigation credit strategies, and projects to increase status information of at-risk species to inform Species Status Assessments conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to inform listing decisions.
Benefit? These efforts will promote and support ecosystem restoration, maintenance and monitoring on and off military installations to enhance the conservation of at-risk and listed species; increase flexibility for on-installation training; increase regulatory predictability for military services, other federal agencies, and private landowners who engage in proactive conservation; and provide a process for DoD and other partners to share species data that will inform regulatory decisions.
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Candidate Conservation | USFWS, Southeast Region |
| DoD Natural Resources Program | DoD |
| National Military Fish and Wildlife Association (NMFWA) | NMFWA |
| Recovery and Sustainment Program (RASP) | NFWF |
| Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies | SEAFWA |
| South Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) | USFWS |
| Peninsular Florida Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) | USFWS |
| North Carolina Green Growth Toolbox | North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission |
| The Service's National Listing Workplan | US FWS |
| Florida Gopher Tortoise Smartphone App | FL Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission |
| Webinar Recording: Gopher Tortoise Conservation Strategy as a Model to Protect At-Risk Species | DoD REPI |
There are currently no upcoming events at this time.
