Volume 41, Number 2

Jeff Goessling

Dear burrowers,

After much discussion, the Gopher Tortoise Council board has voted to move this year's annual meeting, originally scheduled to occur in St. Petersburg FL, to a virtual-only format. Given the current status of the covid-19 pandemic in the state of Florida, and regionally within the southeastern United States, we do not feel it would be a responsible decision for our group to convene in person. 

While this decision has been an agonizing one to make, we feel that it is the clear choice for our group at this time. One benefit of this transition to virtual is that we have had the chance to learn and build on what worked with last year's virtual conference. To that end, the board will spend the next month and a half planning an equally, if not more, engaging virtual conference that will be conducted through Zoom. The conference will be held as a single day-long meeting on 29 October; registration fees for the conference will be equal to membership dues. This day-long conference will include sessions of regular-length presentations, rapid presentations, a membership-wide business meeting, a poster session in several concurrent "zoom rooms", and will culminate with a not-to-be-missed live auction. Cash awards will be given to top student presenters. Participants can once again expect edge-of-your-seats door prizes and games throughout the conference! We will once again use CustomInk to procure meeting t-shirts; please be patient and check our website as we repurpose this year's shirt to a relevant virtual theme. 

Please visit the registration site to join in our meeting. The deadline to register is 5 PM EST Thursday 28 October. Conference registrants can expect to receive an email with the Zoom link to the conference location after the 5 PM registration deadline. 

While the plans have recently changed for our conference, our organizational goals remain the same. We pride ourselves on supporting primary research of gopher tortoises and their surrounding ecological communities through J. Larry Landers Student Research Grants; we remain committed to enhancing educational opportunities to advance the cause for conservation through Donna J. Heinrich Educational Outreach Grants. We are still accepting proposals for both of these grant programs, and look forward to supporting these great causes. Please visit the Grant Programs tab on our website for more details on application. 

It is hard to believe it was already a year ago that we were planning our first-ever (and hoped-to-be last ever) virtual conference. While the past year has taken unexpected turns, we are optimistic that we will indeed return to a "regular" in-person meeting next year in the Florida panhandle. 

Please stay healthy and safe. I look forward to seeing you soon in Zoom! 

Sincerely,

Jeff Goessling

Check out all the latest news and announcements from the Gopher Tortoise Council here, including:

  • GTC's Code of Conduct
  • Call for Nominations for 2021 GTC Service Awards
  • Details on available grants 

Katherine Richardson 

In case you missed it, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has rolled out a new initiative: The Gopher Tortoise Friendly Yard Recognition Program

A property in Marion County, Florida, marked with a Gopher Tortoise Friendly Yard sign.

Sarah Buffington

Efforts aimed at providing gopher tortoise outreach and education opportunities continue to gain ground in Mississippi. The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science recognized Gopher Tortoise Day on April 10th, which coincided with ‘Spring Into Nature’, an outdoor event held on the museum’s campus in Jackson.

Dr. Nicole Hodges with a group of children and an education gopher tortoise at the Mississippi Museum of Science's 2021 Spring into Nature event. Photo by Nicole Smith.

Dirk Stevenson

Bam-bam. Ba-bam-bam-bam. A soft rhythmic hammering carries across the turkey oak sandhill. The noise stops briefly, then sounds off again. It’s not the amorous notes of carpenter frogs from a nearby cypress dome or the resonate percussions made by a snag-banging woodpecker. The drumming is the sound of spider scholars clubbing vegetation in pursuit of poorly-known, beautiful spiders

Adult female of an undescribed jumping spider in the genus Tutelina. Photo by G.B. Edwards.

GTC's newest fact sheet is here, brought to you by the Upland Snake Conservation Committee! For more information on southeastern snakes, check out GTC's Upland Snake Initiative webpage.

 

Photo by Michelina Dziadzio

Some recently published articles about gopher tortoises and upland communities in the Southeast. Also check out GTC's Education & Outreach for more literature, including snake and tortoise bibliographies!

Archived Newsletters

     
Summer 2020 Volume 40, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2020 Volume 40, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2019 Volume 39, Number 3 View pdf
Summer 2019 Volume 39, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2019 Volume 39, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2018 Volume 38, Number 3 View pdf
Summer 2018 Volume 38, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2018 Volume 38, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2017 Volume 37, Number 3 View pdf
Summer 2017 Volume 37, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2017 Volume 37, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2016 Volume 36, Number 3 View pdf
Summer 2016 Volume 36, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2016 Volume 36, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2015 Volume 35, Number 3 View pdf
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Winter 2014 Volume 34, Number 3 View pdf
Summer 2014 Volume 34, Number 2 View pdf
Spring 2014 Volume 34, Number 1 View pdf
Winter 2013 Volume 33, Number 3 View pdf
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Winter 2012 Volume 32, Number 3 View pdf
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Winter 2011 Volume 31, Number 3 View pdf
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Winter 2010 Volume 30, Number 4 View pdf
Spring 2010 Volume 30, Number 2 View pdf
Winter 2010 Volume 30, Number 1 View pdf
Summer 2009 Volume 29, Number 3 View pdf
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Winter 2009 Volume 29, Number 1 View pdf
Summer 2008 Volume 28, Number 3 View pdf
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Summer 2007 Volume 27, Number 3 View pdf
Spring 2007 Volume 27, Number 2 View pdf
Winter 2007 Volume 27, Number 1 View pdf
Summer 2006 Volume 26, Number 3 View pdf
Spring 2006 Volume 26, Number 2 View pdf