Friday, December 15, 2006
Permit to kill
Loss greater than just the gopher tortoises
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Editorial
Gopher tortoises are so interconnected with their habitat that a threat to them is also a threat to burrowing owls, indigo snakes, gopher frogs, scrub jays and more than 300 other species. When these reptiles dig their burrows for self-protection, they also create havens for other wildlife — as well as a virtual smorgasbord for predators, like snakes. And as tortoises eat their low-growing grasses and herbs, they also spread seeds.
Gopher tortoises are in peril — enough so that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission upgraded their status this month to “threatened” from “species of special concern.” That is because scientists told commissioners that tortoise numbers had declined 50 percent over three generations. And other scientists have estimated the decline could be as much as 40 percent annually.
So why is the wildlife commission permitting a local developer to eradicate up to 923 gopher tortoises to build a subdivision called Plantation Oaks near The Loop, environmentally and historically important land north of Ormond Beach? That’s the big question in Florida’s wildlife management practices.
Granted, the permit was issued in February, long before the official change in status (which doesn’t take effect for a year or more). But scientists knew about the decline. Saying “yes” followed paper rules since the developer had to pay $722,897 in mitigation fees, which allows the state to buy and preserve gopher tortoise habitat elsewhere. Still it doesn’t make sense. The tortoise ecosystems near The Loop will be gone forever.
Permit or not, new development threatens the gopher tortoise. Housing enclaves, including those that strive to keep a “natural look,” divvy up habitat, making it more difficult for species to survive. New roads take a toll, too; the automobile is one of the tortoises’ greatest threats.
The developer for Plantation Oaks says the number of tortoises in the proposed subdivision is about half the state’s estimate. No one really knows since counting them one by one is impractical, if not impossible. And even if some tortoises are saved, destruction of yet another habitat contributes to the species’ decline. This developer’s permit represents a lurking problem. Since the upgrading of the gopher tortoise status to “threatened,” several officials in the state report increases in applications for mitigation permits.
Florida wouldn’t be Florida had man not interfered with nature. Most of us live somewhere that probably hastened the demise of one species or another as wetlands were filled in, man-made canals built or land and waterways rearranged to build homes for people. Our predecessors didn’t know enough to plan well then. Even now, state law allows developments to be built over decades — essentially promising land to be used for housing without knowledge of what will happen in the future. The agreement to build upon the land that will be Plantation Oaks, for instance, was drawn up 20 years ago. In 2002, when the subdivision was approved, Volusia County officials said they sympathized with the protests of environmentalists but claimed their hands were legally tied.
We can’t make up for damage done in the past, but we can plan better for the future. One good start would be for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to impose a moratorium on mitigation permits until new rules are written. That might not seem fair to land developers who have already purchased property, but it would give the state time to draw rules that take existing land-use plans under consideration when issuing mitigation permits. It also gives them time to write rules that favor saving the habitat as the better option to mitigation.
It is instructive that this permit for killing gopher tortoises comes at a time when Volusia County is struggling to save its environmental core. High, dry natural areas, like in the county’s wooded center, are beautiful places to live. But they are also home to hundreds of species — including the gopher tortoise — that are incompatible with urban-style living. Tougher rules that limit development need to be imposed before the tortoises becomes plastic icons in a museum of Florida’s lost ecosystems.
Serial story: THE MOUSE AND THE MOTORCYCLE