TITAN America’s Award for Gopher Tortoise Habitat

In May 2009, TITAN America’s Center Sand Mine, located in Clermont, Florida, received a First Place “Pride of Mine” Award from the Florida Limerock & Aggregate Industry (FLAI) to honor a recently-completed Gopher Tortoise Relocation Project. The gopher tortoise, an endangered species, is a burrowing creature and mining encroaches on its burrows. Company officials launched a rescue effort and decided to create a 35-acre nature preserve habitat adjacent to the Center Sand Mine property in order to safeguard the tortoises.

The project included acquiring a Gopher Tortoise Relocation permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Site surveys were conducted to determine locations and quantities of inhabited burrows on the property. Hog fencing was buried in the ground at approximately five to six inches deep around the area to protect and contain the tortoises. Pine trees were thinned and the land was reseeded with foraging plants suitable for the turtles. Fifty-six turtles (22 males, 24 females, 10 immature) were humanely removed from the mining area and placed into their new habitat.