All the heavy equipment is in place and construction was set to begin on Pensacola's new fire station on Summit Boulevard, but a required site survey uncovered a gopher tortoise burrow.That means ...

Gopher tortoises are a keystone species —- when their numbers decline, other dependent species wane as well. They and their oval-shaped burrows are protected under state law.

On a day more suited to lounging poolside, a dedicated crew instead spent Sunday digging in the sand at a sweltering construction site, saving gopher tortoises. Workers from the Humane Society of ...

Apopka will shell out nearly $100,000 to relocate gopher tortoises whose burrows stand in the way of an important water project. Surveyors discovered dozens of deep holes dotting an empty field adj… ...

Collapsed burrows. Alarmed neighbors. Slow agency response. The destruction of a once-thriving gopher tortoise community in Lehigh Acres last week typifies what’s happening to the threatened ...

Gopher tortoises, found in Georgia and Florida, have been an issue for some developers. Wesley Emmanuel, the project manager for Scherer Construction, said there are policies in place to protect ...

They instinctively know to dig just above the water table. "The burrow itself is an awesome work of engineering,” said Gerry-Ana Jones of the Indian River County Gopher Tortoise Alliance. “They are so ...

Gopher tortoises are listed by the state as "threatened," and, since their burrows are used by a variety of other creatures, they are considered a "keystone species," she said.

The property on Marco Island where the Burrows were filled is home to about 30 gopher tortoises. On Thursday morning, it was discovered that someone, or a few people, don’t want these guys here.

They are so named because of their ability to dig large, deep burrows up to 15 feet deep and 40 feet long, and are as wide as the length of the tortoise that made it. The gopher tortoise is unique ...