"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.

 The 2024 annual meeting was hosted on the beautiful campus of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Over 100 participants gathered from November 15-17 learn more about current research areas and management techniques relating to gopher tortoises, their commensals, and habitats across the region. Our logo for this year’s meeting was designed by St. Petersburg artist Kelly Quinn T-shirt sales from the meeting raised a total of $530.87. This year’s meeting also featured some new practices aimed at promoting sustainability during the meeting. Participants who brought their own reusable beverage container received a sticker featuring the meeting logo and a ticket for a raffle at the end of the meeting. We look forward to building on these efforts at future meetings.

We kicked off the meeting with a keynote presentation from Dr. Peter Meylan, an Emeritus Professor at Eckerd College. Dr. Meylan presented his career-spanning work on turtles in Florida. He also pointed to the growth in GTC from our inaugural meeting to the present, noting that there were only 4 attendees at the 1st annual meeting. Dr. Meylan is the author of Biology and Conservation of Florida Turtles, a comprehensive resource for all freshwater, marine, and terrestrial species of turtles in the state. He discussed the need for increased protections for sensitive habitats like uplands and wetlands, as well as wildlife crossings that could prevent road mortalities in turtles and other wildlife. GTC thanks Dr. Meylan for his presentation and his contributions to gopher tortoise conservation.

Research presentations from the meeting spanned a variety of topics, including gopher tortoise behavior, ecology, habitat use, and policy. Participants also heard presentations on gopher tortoise commensals, habitat restoration, and translocation. We heard from our meeting’s youngest ever participants, high school students who have been using trail cameras to study wildlife diversity around Miami. We were also fortunate enough to host Ed Larue from our sister organization the Desert Tortoise Council. Ed presented on the commenting and advocacy work of DTC’s Ecosystems Advisory Committee. We look forward to implementing some of his advice through GTC’s new and growing Conservation Committee.

This year’s meeting also featured a special session on the disease ecology of gopher tortoises and their commensals. Presenters covered topics such as new gopher tortoise disease research in Florida, and possible disease transmission by soft ticks and mosquitos utilizing tortoise burrows. The session concluded with a panel Q&A where meeting participants discussed possible implications for tortoise translocation practices.

The meeting also included a poster session where students, researchers, and other professionals showcased their current research, management, and outreach projects. Thank you to all of our presenters from this year’s meeting! The first day of the meeting concluded with a social (and some excellent dinner) at the nearby Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. Many thanks to the Friends of Boyd Hill Nature Preserve for their hospitality.

The awards dinner for this year’s meeting was held at the beautiful Tampa Bay Watch, where participants enjoyed scenic sunset views and some tortoise-themed games before sitting down to celebrate service award recipients and student award winners. Service award recipients this year included:

Special Project Award: Deborah Burr (Conservation Science Partners) has led the Gopher Tortoise Council’s social media campaigns on Facebook and Instagram for many years. Thanks to these efforts, the Council has been able to reach thousands of people, far beyond those directly engaged in gopher tortoise conservation. 

Lifetime Service Award: Ericha Shelton-Nix (Alabama Department of Wildlife and Conservation) has provided a leadership role in the Gopher Tortoise Council for more than a decade. She was Co-Chair and hosted our 41st Annual Meeting in beautiful Gulf Shores, Alabama. Ericha also co-chaired the Council’s Outreach Committee and currently serves as the GTC Co-Representative for the state of Alabama. 

Conservation Education Award: George L. Heinrich (Heinrich Ecological Services), was recognized for his outstanding education and outreach activities for gopher tortoises and upland ecosystems. George is a two-time past Co-Chair of GTC and has been a leader in turtle and tortoise conservation, education, and outreach for more than 35 years. George has influenced innumerable children, young adults, and adults through his summer camps, workshops, and volunteer opportunities at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is also the Executive Director of the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust, an organization working to conserve Florida’s incredible turtle diversity. 

Auffenberg and Franz Conservation Awards are presented to individuals with lifetime accomplishments and organizations with long-term efforts in conserving gopher tortoises and upland ecosystems. This year three A&F Awards were presented to the following individuals/institutions:

Archbold Biological Station (ABS) received an Auffenberg and Franz Conservation Award for their the long term contributions to research and conservation of Florida scrub habitat. ABS has a legacy of more than 80 years of research on gopher tortoises, scrub jays, arthropods, amphibians, rare plants. They are also world-renowned for their work on ecological restoration of scrub, wetlands, and native grasslands. 

Dr. Henry Mushinsky and Dr. Earl McCoy received an Auffenberg and Franz Conservation Award for their four decades of research on gopher tortoises and other southeastern reptiles while at the University of South Florida. Together, they have mentored hundreds of graduate students who have gone on to become professors, research ecologists, decision makers, teachers, advocates, regulators, and consultants. Their former students describe their brilliance, humility, integrity, and enthusiasm. They were, and are still, always willing to help their students or anyone that shares their interest in understanding and conserving tortoises. 

Steve Friedman (Georgia Department of Natural Resources) and Sharon Swagger (USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service) received an Auffenberg and Franz Conservation Award for their instrumental role in Georgia receiving significant federal awards that helped achieve the goal of permanently protecting 65 viable tortoise populations in the state. They played a huge part in protection of Canoochee Sandhills WMA, Bullard Creek WMA, Lanahassee Creek WMA, the Orianne Indigo Snake Preserve, Russell Thomas Farms, and Odom Farms, as well as key wetlands tracts along the Altamaha, Carolina Bays, and critical eastern indigo snake habitat along the Ohoopee River.

This year GTC subsidized student participation in the annual meeting by automatically giving a $200 Bob Herrington Student Travel Grant to every student presenting a talk or poster. The 16 student presenters who attended and received travel grants hailed from nine academic institutions located throughout the range of the gopher tortoise.

The recipients of Joan Berish Student Presentation Awards for most outstanding talks were: 

First place - Nicholas Canino (U. Florida) "The relationship between soft ticks living in gopher tortoise burrows and wild pigs in Florida: Implications for African Swine Fever Virus introduction to the U.S." 

Second place - Shivam Shukla (U. South Florida) "‘Scaling up’ our understanding of ophidiomycosis: Urbanization, distribution, and novel hosts in southeastern snake populations"

Third place - Garrett Lawson (Virginia Tech) "Gopher tortoise nest-site selection at burrows and the influence of nest environment on hatching success"

Honorable mention - Emily Sanchez and Kinga Brihamma (BioTECH @ Richmond Heights H.S.) "Wild - Cam: Wildlife investigation landscape diversity using cameras around Miami" 

Congratulations to all of our awards recipients, and thank you for your outstanding contributions to gopher tortoise conservation. 

The annual meeting concluded with field trips to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve and Shell Key. To all our meeting participants, we hope you enjoyed this year’s meeting! See you in the fall for our 47th annual meeting at Tall Timbers in north Florida.

Note: As always, we had more wonderful photos from the annual meeting than could fit in this article. You can see more photos from the meeting here.