Kurt Buhlmann, an associate research scientist in the Odum School of Ecology, and Tracey Tuberville, an associate research scientist in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, were recently quoted in Luxora Leader about enterprise and wildlife teams working together to save gopher tortoises.
Gopher tortoises dig burrows underground in the southern and coastal parts of Georgia where the soil is sandy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering protecting gopher tortoises under the Endangered Species Act. Georgia businesses are working with wildlife agencies, private foundations and environmental groups on a project to save the gopher tortoise.
Once gopher tortoises make it to adulthood, they’re like “a fixture on the landscape,” said Buhlmann, who is a research scientist at UGA’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. “They’re like a rock. They’re going to be there.”
“I am actually very optimistic that they are a species you can recover,” said Tuberville, who is an associate research scientist at the SREL. “Everybody has the same goal. Even if it’s just to make sure they’re not listed, in the end that means effective conservation for tortoises.”
