The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is seeking public input on draft revisions to the Gopher Tortoise permitting guidelines. The purpose of this is to better protect gopher tortoises. The Citrus County Chronicle reports the goal of the proposed revisions is to clearly define what the responsibilities are for the developers as they resettle the tortoises.
Adjustments and information included in the guidelines will be presented at two public webinars. The dates for the webinars are:
- Wednesday, September 7, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
- Wednesday, September 14, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
There is an option to do written comments and they will be accepted until September 23. Information on the guidelines, plus instructions on how to join the webinars and a link to the comment survey are available at MyFWC.com/GopherTortoise. Anyone who cannot comment on these specific timeframes can send their comments to Katherine Richardson’s email which is [email protected]. The gopher tortoise is listed as a threatened species statewide, and they need to be protected.
