Keep reading for our favorite highlights from the 2023 GTC Annual Meeting.

Participants at the 2023 GTC Annual Meeting. Photo by Jen Howze.

The 45th Annual Meeting of the Gopher Tortoise Council was hosted in Georgia. GTC members gathered at the UGA Tifton Campus Conference Center from November 17-19 to learn more about current research areas and management techniques relating to gopher tortoises, their commensals, and habitats across the region.

Our meeting t-shirts this year featured designs from Hayden Day and Emma Browning. We're happy to report that t-shirt sales raised nearly $970 ($969.34 to be exact)!

Front design for this year's meeting t-shirts by Emma Browning.

This year's keynote presentation was delivered by Dr. Lora Smith, a long time member of the Gopher Tortoise Council, covering her decades of work researching gopher tortoises and other reptiles and amphibians in the southeast.

Dr. Lora Smith delivering the meeting keynote. Photo by Michelina Dziadzio.

Meeting participants heard presentations on topics including reintroduction efforts for eastern indigo snakes, gopher frog headstarting, habitat restoration, and gopher tortoise ecology. This year's meeting also included a special session dedicated to gopher tortoise translocation. Thank you to all of this year's excellent presenters!

William Mach presents during the meeting's poster session. Photo by Jen Howze.

Attendees gathered at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Georgia Museum of Agriculture to celebrate winners of GTC’s student research and travel grants, student presentation awards, and service awards. Congratulations to this year's award recipients, including:

Joan Berish Student Presentation Awards:

1st - Celina Ceballos (Eckerd College) “Foraging Ecology of Gopher Tortoises within Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, St. Petersburg, Florida”

2nd - McKayla Susen (University of Georgia) “The Influence of Soil Texture and Vegetation Structure on Gopher Tortoise Burrow Characteristics and Burrow Site Selection”

The award recipients received $400 and $200, respectively. 

Recipients of the 2023 Joan Berish Student Presentation Awards. Photo by Jen Howze.

Bob Herrington Student Travel Grant

GTC gave out four Bob Herrington Student Travel Grants of $150 each the of following students, to help offset the expense of traveling and presenting at the meeting:

Celina Ceballos (Eckerd College), William Mach (Florida International University), Deanna Riente (University of Florida), Krista Ruppert (Mississippi State University)

Bob Herrington Student Travel Grant Recipients. Photo by Jen Howze.

Gopher Tortoise Council Service Awards

Distinguished Service Award - Matthew Stoddard

Distinguished Service Award - Eric Sievers

Distinguished Service Award - Coastal Wildlife Club

Auffenberg and Franz Conservation Award - Reese Thompson

Lifetime Service Award - Betsie Rothermel

Betsie Rothermel receives the Gopher Tortoise Council Lifetime Service Award. Photo by Jen Howze.
Matthew Stoddard receives a GTC Distinguised Service Award. Photo by Jen Howze.

The 2023 Annual Meeting concluded with two field trips. Participants could visit either the Alapaha Wildlife Management Area or the Doerun Pitcher Plant Bog.

Annual Meeting participants visit Alapaha Wildlife Management Area. Photo by Michelina Dziadzio.
GTC field trip tot he Doreun Pitcher Plant Bog. Photo by Kim Buchheit.

Thank you to everyone who attended this year's meeting, and who helped to make the meeting a success!

The back of this year's meeting t-shirt, design by Hayden Day.

 

 

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