Survey of Silviculture that Benefits the Gopher Tortoise

The Gopher Tortoise is currently a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act in the eastern portion of its range, and already is listed as threatened west of the Tombigbee River in Alabama.

This survey requests information that will be used by the National Council for Air & Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI) to help the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service better understand the extent of forest management activities that benefit the Gopher Tortoise. Please report information only for pine forests.

Forest managers are encouraged to report management activities by state and year annually, beginning with 2012. The year should coincide with federal fiscal years (Oct. 1 – Sept. 30) to allow this survey to match other information the Service is gathering. A separate survey should be completed for each year and state.

Please complete a separate survey for each state and provide information only from counties within the range of the gopher tortoise. (Please submit separate surveys if reporting for counties where the gopher tortoise is currently listed federally and for counties where it is a candidate for listing. These options are included in the drop-down menu for State.) A list of counties within the gopher tortoise range, which identifies Alabama counties in the listed and candidate portions of the range, is available here.

Information should be reported as totals by state (combined for all counties within the state). Consultants who work with more than one landowner should combine information for all private landowners by state. To avoid duplication, consultants and landowners should not report activities that received cost-share funding, as these will be tracked and reported by the agency. Likewise, consultants should report work completed for corporate owners only if the owner will not be reporting here.

NOTE: Information submitted by individual respondents will be treated as confidential. NCASI will only provide the Service survey results summarized by state and year and remove any information that would identify individual respondents and / or landowners.

Use the following link to fill out the online survey or preview in advance of reporting. If the survey window is closed without clicking “done,” no information will be saved.

Proceed to the online survey     Remember to click Done at the bottom of the form! 

Questions should be directed to Philip Weatherford of NCASI at ude.nosmelc@ehtaewp or (864) 656-4834.