In Florida, gopher tortoises aren’t just another wild animal; people in our community care deeply about them, and the state protects them by law.
These tortoises do more than dig holes. They create long burrows that offer shelter to many other wildlife, like the Eastern indigo snake and the Florida mouse, protecting them from Florida’s heat and wildfires.
Now, any time developers want to build on land where gopher tortoises live, special rules kick in. Trained, licensed agents have to move the tortoises to approved wildlife refuge sites.
Here’s where waif gopher tortoises come in. If you dig into the dense Gopher Tortoise Permitting Guidelines, you’ll see in Appendix 14 that a “waif” has a unique status. Basically, a waif tortoise is one that someone picked up from the wild but that wasn’t part of an official relocation, so nobody knows exactly where it came from. For example, if someone scoops a tortoise off a busy road to save it, or brings an injured one to a vet, it becomes a waif. The state lets properties with at least five acres of good, connected gopher tortoise habitat serve as safe sites for these waifs, if they get official approval. Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve now qualifies as one of those places.
On May 15, the Preserve got a visit from state biologists and gopher tortoise experts, who came to check if it could be a suitable home for waif tortoises. They looked at the plants, soil, and how high the land sits above the water table. Everything checked out. Gopher tortoises once lived in the Preserve, but workers moved them away during pond bank renovations because heavy machines posed too much risk. The tortoises moved to a new spot near Duckweed Pond, but in recent years, volunteers have not seen them in this location.
Bringing even one waif tortoise (maybe two) to Lemon Creek will take a special state permit. Only healthy tortoises that can survive on their own qualify. The Florida Wildlife Commission’s real aim is to get these rescued tortoises back into nature, and Lemon Creek’s natural environment makes it a strong option.
There’s a bit of setup needed. The site must build a temporary pen, at least one to two acres in size. The fencing, either silt or wire, needs to be buried eight inches underground and stand two feet above ground so the tortoises can’t escape. It has to be tough and sturdy, since tortoises can dig or climb more than you’d think. Inside, someone will dig a “starter” burrow, but the tortoise takes over from there. There needs to be plenty for a tortoise to eat: native broadleaf grasses, legumes, asters, blackberries, prickly pear, and a mix of other fruits and non-native grasses too. The space should get good sun, but also provide shady spots from trees. The tortoise will stay in the pen for at least six months and only a year. When the fence finally comes down, the hope is she’ll stick around, making the Preserve her new permanent home. All things considered, the major expense is simply the temporary fence. Please monitor the Lemon Bay Conservancy Wish List for more updates.
Click here for more information about the Lemon Bay Conservancy.
