Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueblaze
The discussion concerns gopher TORTOISES, not gophers. Gopher tortoise - Wikipedia
If you skip down a few pages, you will discover that their natural is, and I quote: "...the most suitable habitats for gopher tortoise is the longleaf pine ecosystem..."
As far as arguments over the size of the forests 500 years ago vs. now, we could post competing sources all day to argue over one minor sentence, but I would rather discuss the point of the post, which is that the gopher tortoise "preserves" preserve nothing, and merely torment the inmates, while adding little value to The Villages, regardless of who "owns" them or why they were created.
If they are truly intended as nature preserves, then they should be treated as such. Instead of terrorizing the inmates with frequent mowing, the "preserves" should be improved to resemble the natural habitat of the animals they claim to preserve, which would have the side benefit of removing these ugly eyesores. They should be made into beautiful wild spaces, rather than just ugly enclosed fields where the inmates are tormented by mowing, poor diet, and overcrowding.
And if they are not truly nature preserves, then they should be made available for use by the Villagers whose home purchases paid for them. |
Below is a picture of one of the many gopher tortoises I see when walking our dog at an area near our Villages home. In this area, they have a choice of burrowing their underground nests in wooded and shaded tree areas, deep unmowed grass, or in shorter mowed and trampled down areas in full sunlight. Apparently they prefer very short to no grass, full sunlight, and are not disturbed by mowing and foot traffic, and an occasional tennis ball being dropped into their underground home by a dog.
Note: somehow, when I edited the post the picture showed up on top of the post?