Industry newspaper highlights NCASI contribution to success of gopher tortoise conservation

NCASI’s contribution to years of collaborative research on the gopher tortoise is highlighted in the cover story of the current issue of The Forestry Source, a monthly newsletter produced by the Society of American Foresters.

In a recent decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the eastern population of gopher tortoises, a species dependent on open pine forests in the southeastern US, was removed from consideration as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Since the species was first considered for listing in 2011, a variety of public, private, and non-governmental partners, including NCASI, have made important contributions toward the improved status of the gopher tortoise. Darren Miller, NCASI vice president of forestry programs, noted that, “because of this collaboration, we can document the security of the species across large portions of its range. This didn’t happen overnight—this has been a long process.”

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This article was originally published in The Forestry Source (March 2023) and is shared here with permission from the Society of American Foresters.