Volume 44, Number 3
Kim Sash (GTC Senior Co-Chair)
Dear members,
It was wonderful meeting so many of you in St. Petersburg at the 46th annual meeting, we had about 155 people in attendance. Thank you for coming and also for filling out the meeting review, we read all your comments and always strive to improve the meeting where we can. I want to thank our keynote speaker, Peter Meylan, and guest speaker Ed Larue, as well as all of our speaker and poster presenters. I especially want to thank all of the students that attended and presented, you’re the future and we were really happy to host you all as well.
I want to also give a big thanks to Eric Sievers and his team for putting on a great meeting (and giving me a basket of dead batteries). Eric will now hold the position of Outgoing Co-Chair as we bring in our new Junior Co-Chair, Jeff Baker from Alabama Power Co.
We are really excited to host you all this year at Tall Timbers in Tallahassee, Fl. Keep a lookout for announcements for the 47th annual meeting.
Quickly approaching is Gopher Tortoise Day on April 10th. If you’re interested in hosting a Gopher Tortoise Day event, grant applications are due on March 15th. This is a fun way to educate others on the value of gopher tortoises.
On behalf of our board that works tirelessly to run this volunteer organization, we hope 2025 is off to a good start for you all. Thank you all for your continued support of the Gopher Tortoise Council and I want to challenge each of you to encourage at least one person in 2025 to become a GTC member.
Wishing you only occupied burrows,
Kim Sash
Senior Co-chair
Keep reading for the latest news and announcements from the Gopher Tortoise Council, including:
- Become a GTC member
- Gopher tortoise license plate coming soon!
- Upcoming meetings of interest to GTC members
- Gopher tortoise day grant applications
Some recently published articles about gopher tortoises, their commensals, and upland communities in the southeast. Check out GTC's Education & Outreach page for more literature, including snake and tortoise bibliographies.
"There are abandoned burrows and there are collapsed burrows and there are the burrows that you may not see. But the best burrow is an occupied burrow, and may they always be." - Kim Sash, 2024 GTC awards dinner toast
After a few bumps - and hurricanes - in the road, the Gopher Tortoise Council finally made it to St. Petersburg, Florida for our 46th annual meeting. Participants gathered for 3 days of presentations on the latest in gopher tortoise and commensal education and research, as well as some socializing, field trips, and recognition of outstanding members of the gopher tortoise community.
Click to read more about the critical gopher tortoise conservation being done across the species' range in our 2024 state and committee report summaries.
Dirk Stevenson (Altamaha Environmental Consulting)
Learn more about the movements of radio-tracked eastern indigo snakes and journey west as Dirk Stevenson draws comparisons between this charismatic gopher tortoise commensal and another pair of iconic species - and the burrows they share - in the Great Plains region of North America.
Christian Fernandez (Southern Fire Exchange)
Funding provided by the Donna J. Heinrich Environmental Education Grant from the Gopher Tortoise Council allowed UF/IFAS Extension to host the inaugural Fang Fest in Williston, FL. Fang Fest is an outreach festival designed to equip guests with the skills and knowledge to coexist with Florida’s snakes–including upland species like the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake–and gain a better appreciation for them on the landscape.
