“…Everything affecting the gopher tortoise’s habitat affects the tortoise and … eventually affects all other organisms in its ecosystem. Efforts to save the gopher tortoise are really a manifestation of our desire to preserve intact, significant pieces of the biosphere.
…We must preserve…the gopher tortoise and other species in similar predicaments, for if we do not, we lose a part of our humanity, a part of our habitat, and ultimately our world.”
—Dr. George W. Folkerts, Auburn University, Alabama
Conservation Letters
- July 21, 2026: Opposition to New Oil and Gas Drilling Leases in Conecuh National Forest
- October 28, 2025: Support for Listing Decision of Southern Hognose Snake
- April 20, 2025: Opposition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Proposal to Rescind the Definition of Harm under the Endangered Species Act
- March 21, 2025: Opposition to Ellaville Tract Land Exchange
- February 10, 2025: Opposition to Proposals to Develop Florida State Parks
- December 4, 2024: Comments on Florida's Gopher Tortoise Management Plan
- October 2, 2024: Opposition to Proposed Swap of 324 acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest
- April 16, 2024: Split Oak Forest Public Comment on the Release of Conservation Easements
- January 22, 2024: Support for the Korn Tortoise Preserve in South Carolina
- November 30, 2023: Split Oak Forest Opposition to Release of Conservation Easements, and Opposition to Delegation of Decision to Executive Director without Further Public Process
- April 19, 2022: Opposition to the Construction of a Linear Facility through Split Oak Forest
- April 13, 2022: Support for Gopher Tortoise License Plate
- November 2021: Response to FWC Executive Order on Gopher Tortoise Recipient Site Capacity (Order No. EO 21-27)
- October 14, 2020: Concern about Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-CORES) program
GT Minimum Viable Population Working Group
In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 12-month finding which made the gopher tortoise a Candidate species for possible listing as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This stimulated range-wide analyses and conservation planning for the species, including a Species Status Assessment. In its subsequent 2022 Finding, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service retained federal protection for the western distinct population segment (DPS) but deemed the eastern DPS did not meet the criteria for listing under the ESA and withdrew candidate status. All state-level protections remain in place.
In support of these assessments, the Gopher Tortoise Council led workshops in 2013 and 2014 aimed at defining minimum viable population size, the number of viable populations needed, and the ideal geographic distribution of these populations.