Good News For Gophers- No More Legal Entombment
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- State wildlife commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to remove bald eagles from Florida's list of animals in danger of extinction and to downgrade manatees from endangered to threatened.
The commissioners also voted to upgrade the statuses of the Panama City crayfish and gopher tortoise to threatened species.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted 7-0 to strip bald eagles of their threatened classification and to downgrade manatees because both populations have shown signs of rebounding.
Florida's three-tiered system includes classifications of endangered, threatened and special concern, the lowest level.
Wednesday's decisions won't go into effect until management plans are approved for each species, which could take more than a year, officials said. Eagles and manatees remain protected under several federal laws, including the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
The Gopher tortoise, which nests in dunes, has survived for 60 million years but biologists estimate their numbers have dropped by up to 80 percent in the last century due to coastal development.
Under a current state permitting process, developers are allowed to bury alive some of the reptiles as they make way for construction. Under the upgraded classification, a new management plan will be devised that will limit those live burials.
