Gopher Tortoise Council 37th Annual Meeting
Two ESI employees Rachael Sulkers and Catalina McEachern attended this year's annual Gopher Tortoise Council meeting in Covington, Louisiana. This meeting represented Rachael's final year on the Board and as Co-Chair of the Gopher Tortoise Council. The meeting consisted of oral and poster presentations on a variety of biology research topics ranging from the genetics of WAIF tortoises to the connectivity of wetlands via amphibian dispersal. The presentations started off with keynote speaker John Pitre a State Resource Conservationist from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)-Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). In his speech Mr. Pitre discussed financial assistance and advising services with his department for private land owners to properly manage their upland and marsh lands through methods such as no longer draining and tilling marshes to utilizing private consulting firms for prescribed upland burning. Another great presentation was from our state's very own Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on determining the time of a gopher tortoise's death based on the stage of shell disarticulation (breaking down and apart). Overall ESI had a great time at this annual event where we were able to interact with private land owners, state and federal agencies, and non-profit organizations all through the common interest of scientific research, upland habitat preservation, the gopher tortoise, and commensal species.
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