Blog Action Day Post – Gopher Tortoise
Today, October 15th is Blog Action day. As a blogger I am supposed to write something about the enviroment. Bloggers get to pick there own subject to write about, but the post should be geared toward the enviroment. The choice for me was easy, finding a protected Florida wildlife species to photograph for the story was not as easy.
Meet the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), a protected wildlife species found mostly in northern and central Florida and some parts of southern Georgia but have been found to be declining in numbers.
I took a ride over to Erna Nixon Brevard County Park to see if I could find a gopher tortoise to photograph. This county park is known to have this particular form of protected wildlife roaming the area. I asked the ranger where I might find a gopher turtle, but she told me that they are usually not out until later afternoon.
I decided to walk my way up the nature trail and see if I would get lucky even though it was just after twelve noon. I walked up the path til I reached the wetland area of the park with no luck. Then took a walk up the opposite side of the trail to the wetlands and still had not spotted a turtle. As luck would have it, as I was exiting the trail just past the main pavilion I spotted this big guy chomping on some grass.
Many bikers and motorcycle enthusiasts ride the “loop” when visiting the Volusia County area including Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach during the two big Florida Motorcycle events every year. Bike Week and Biketoberfest attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to this area and most will make plans to ride the loop during these events.
Many of you readers have noticed the signs “Save the Loop” posted in homes and along the 23 mile stretch of road from Daytona to Ormond Beach. The loop is a natural habitat for the gopher tortoise and like the turtle, this land is threatened by development. One such development called Plantation Oaks brings threat to this enjoyable natural Florida scenic ride as well as the lives of over 900 gopher turtles. Read Permit to Kill to see more on how this developer bought his way through a permit loop hole.
It is sad to see more and more of the natural Florida ecosystem losing out to high dollar homes and multi-million dollar golf courses. Along with the natural beauty and surroundings of this land we are also killing off our wildlife, like the gopher tortoise.
Technorati Tags: blog action day, daytona beach, ecosystem, endangered wildlife, florida, gopher tortoise, enviroment, melbourne, ormond beach, the loop, volusia county
