Manatee County to receive $14,900 for native habitat improvements

Gopher tortoises are getting a habitat upgrade in Rye Preserve — and Manatee County will get a check for helping. 

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will reimburse the county $14,900 for its participation in the habitat management assistance program through the state.

The county is working habitat improvements for gopher tortoises and Florida scrub jays on 53.5 acres of Rye Preserve. The project will be finished by May, according to an item on today’s county commission agenda.

Improvements include tree removal and exotic and invasive plant extraction. These removals will make it easier for the county to conduct prescribed burns, which are essential to the long term maintenance of these native habitats. The tortoises live in areas of low-growing vegetation, so controlled burns help thin out the overgrowth in their habitat.

FWC will repay the county once the work is complete. There are no required matching funds from the county.

Gopher tortoises, which can live up to 60 years in the wild, are classified a threatened species in Florida. They dig burrows to for shelter, which are also used by 350 other species of animals, including burrowing owls, snakes and opposums, according to myfwc.com. This unique trait of providing homes for other animals gives it a “keystone species’ classification, meaning that it is at the top of an ecosystem, with other species depending on its burrows.