Farm Bill Program Will Help Georgia Gopher Tortoises

New Program Promising for Georgia’s Gopher Tortoises

But Deadline for Landowners to Apply Is Near – April 30!

Georgia’s state reptile, the gopher tortoise, is in line for some much needed help from a federal Farm Bill program.

But interested landowners have only until April 30 to apply for financial assistance through the new Working Lands for Wildlife partnership.

Working Lands for Wildlife teams the U.S. Agricultural Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an effort to conserve wildlife by restoring populations of declining species and strengthening rural economies through productive working lands.

Outreach to Georgia landowners will involve using innovative approaches to restore and protect gopher tortoise habitat in the southern half of the state, and to a lesser extent – because habitat is limited on private land – the golden-winged warbler in north Georgia.

Landowners can apply by April 30 through the NRCS’ Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program. The cost of conservation practices will be shared for qualifying sites. The focus will be creating, managing and maintaining pine savanna habitat for breeding populations of gopher tortoises. Primary practices will be planting longleaf pine, conducting prescribed burns and removing mid-story hardwoods.

Nongame Conservation Section Chief Mike Harris of the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division welcomed the partnership, saying, “We’re excited about the opportunity to focus Farm Bill programs on a species of concern that also benefits other wildlife.”

Found below the Fall Line, gopher tortoises are considered a keystone species primarily because the burrows they dig in sandhill habitats are used by hundreds of other species. Yet, threatened by habitat loss, these land turtles are state-listed as threatened and a candidate for federal protection in Georgia and the rest of their eastern range.

Program details here, or contact a local NRCS office.

Today’s press release.