Silviculture’s Next Challenge: a Tortoise and a Snake
Who would have thought the next threat to agriculture in the southeastern United States, including at least 9,000,000 acres in Georgia, would be two reptiles—a slow moving tortoise and a venomous snake. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is only several steps away from designating the common gopher tortoise and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Unless efforts are taken to change or reverse the expected outcome, the anticipated listing of the GT and EDR creates the threat of civil and criminal prosecution for routine agriculture operations in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida if federal permits are not first obtained—permits that often take years to issue.
