Strengthening the Gopher Tortoise CCA Matt Hinderliter U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service June 21, 2012

Strengthening the Gopher Tortoise CCAMatt Hinderliter

U.S. Fish & Wildlife ServiceJune 21, 2012

Initial Objectives from the Memorandum of Intent (pre-CCA)In the MOI the signatories agreed that:

• Gopher tortoise populations and habitat are in need of assistance

• Action is needed to improve gopher tortoise status range-wide

• Each party could benefit from reversing the declining trend in gopher tortoise populations

The Gopher Tortoise CCA: Why change it?

The conservation strategy of the CCA:

The landscape and local-level conservation actions are designed to be adaptable and implementable by all Parties in a collaborative environment…

Information obtained from surveys and monitoring will increase the understanding of the gopher tortoise and its management needs. This knowledge will be applied using the concepts of adaptive management that periodically assess and modify conservation actions


Change of status: the 12-month findingFrom population modeling efforts, we can draw two very general conclusions:

First, gopher tortoise populations are likely to decline in the future under a wide array of demographic and environmental conditions that exist today.

Second, gopher tortoise populations, although declining, and in some cases functionally extinct, will persist for 100 to 200 years.

The effect of these may be that tortoises will be seen for long periods of time throughout their range, not because their populations are stable or increasing, but because they are long-lived.


Change of status: the 12-month findingRange-wide Conservation Strategy

For each of the 5 factors, identify and assign the following:

Primary threats to the species Actions needed to address specific threatsOther species that could benefitPolicy/regulatory partnersImplementation partnersLeads (FWS & State agency)Due dates

Conservation Objectives and Action Plans Establish a consensus between research and management communities about defining proper surveying/monitoring techniques; and habitat management goals

Identify, prioritize, and protect viable tortoise populations

Increase the size and/or carrying capacity of those viable population areas through applied management, land acquisition, or incentives to adjacent landowners

Maximize the amount of acreage appropriately maintained by prescribed fire

Locate areas of “secondary priority” where re-stocking and restoration can most effectively be accomplished by creating large, contiguous tracts or habitat corridors

Identify and reduce the factors negatively impacting juvenile tortoise recruitment

Encourage the development and implementation of a model CCAA/HCP (preferably one that is state-wide and programmatic) that details effective conservation objectives and habitat management goals.

Status of the Species: What do we know now?

Effectively assessing the status (i.e., whether it is increasing, decreasing, or stable) of the gopher tortoise throughout its range requires evaluation of:

Distribution of populationsHow many tortoises/population How many populationsPopulation demography Trends in population growth

CCA reporting framework

Standardized reporting framework Acres included by protection level Acres managed and/or restored Invasive exotics treated/eradicated Population trends/survey results Population manipulation Research Land conservation Education and outreach Legal protection measures

Threats to the species (5 factors)(A) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or

curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;

(C) Disease or predation;

(D) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms;

(E) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence (climate change, herbicides, road mortality, invasive species).

(A) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;

habitat fragmentation by roads (potentially causing road mortality, reproductive isolation, small and discontinuous populations, and edge effects such as increased predation)

habitat destruction from activities such as urbanization, phosphate strip-mining, and sand extraction (potentially causing direct mortality and/or displacement of tortoises to undesirable habitats);

habitat modification (either deliberately or from inattention), including conversion of longleaf pine forests to other silvicultural or agricultural habitats, shrub/hardwood encroachment (mainly from fire exclusion or insufficient fire management), and establishment and spread of invasive species (potentially causing the aforementioned indirect effects due to canopy closure and decline of available forage/groundcover).









Threats to the species (5 factors)(A) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or

curtailment of its habitat or range; (B) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;



(E) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence (climate change, herbicides, road mortality, invasive species).

Standardized reporting framework Acres included by protection

level Acres managed and/or restored Invasive exotics

treated/eradicated Population trends/survey results Population manipulation Research Land conservation Education and outreach Legal protection measures


(B) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;



(E) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence


Acres included by protection level, Acres managed and/or restored, Invasive exotics treated/eradicated, Population trends/survey results, Research, Land conservation, Education and outreach

(B) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; N/A

(C) Disease or predation; Research, Invasive exotics treated/eradicated (if applicable)

(D) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; Acres included by protection level, Population

manipulation, Legal protection measures

(E) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence New information from DOTs, Federal Highways?

Loss and alteration of gopher tortoise habitat from fire exclusion or fire suppression has a significant effect on survival of the gopher tortoise.

Tortoise population life expectancy was shorter than normal in fire-suppressed savanna communities.

Researchers recorded a decrease of 1.5 tortoises per hectare every 5 years on an unburned site for 16 years.

Fire exclusion may reduce tortoise numbers by 60 to 80 percent in 8 years or 100 percent in 16 years.

In south-central Florida, sandhill and scrubby flatwoods were abandoned by gopher tortoise after about 20 years of fire exclusion.

Some suggested amendments for the CCA:

Incorporate the amendments from the 2012 Florida GT Management Plan

Fire return Max. Canopy Shrub HerbCommunity interval (years) Cover (%) Cover (%) Cover (%)Dry prairie 1-2 10 10-40 >10Upland pine 1-3 50 <10 >50Sandhill 1-3 50 10-20 >25Scrubby flatwoods 3-8 40 10-40 1-10Scrub variable 40 20-40 <5

Recommendations (preliminary) for 2012 FL GT Management Plan







Increase the percentage of growing season prescribed fire (by acreage)(potential goal of burning more acres during the growing season vs. dormant

season within 3-5 yrs?)



Increase the percentage of growing season prescribed fire (by acreage)(potential goal of burning more acres during the growing season vs. dormant

season within 3-5 yrs?)

LTDS method, range-wide surveys every 10 years?



Increase the percentage of growing season prescribed fire (by acreage)(potential goal of burning more acres during the growing season vs. dormant season

within 3-5 yrs?)

LTDS method, range-wide surveys every 10 years?

Currently providing acreage estimates of permanently protected, short-term, and unprotected tortoise habitat: can we include previous years’ data to track trends?

Documents

Strengthening the Gopher Tortoise CCA Matt Hinderliter U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service June 21, 2012