First Federal Conservation Bank Announced for Threatened Gopher Tortoise in Mobile

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System, Environmental Defense, and Southeastern Natural Resources today announceda Habitat Conservation Plan for the threatened gopher tortoise at Converse Reservoir (Big Creek Lake) in Mobile, Alabama.

The public-private partnership creating a 222-acre conservation bank will help protect the threatened gopher tortoise and restore its increasingly rare habitat -- the longleaf pine ecosystem, for which it is a keystone species.

This is the first federal conservation bank for the gopher tortoise, and a first for the State of Alabama. This Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) demonstrates that species conservation and the needs of property owners need not be in conflict. With creativity and leadership by the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System, this plan allows development to continue while at the same time restoring and permanently protecting habitat for the gopher tortoise.