We're crazy for those gopher tortoises

We love the gopher tortoise around these parts. It’s the only tortoise that lives in our region (box turtles are terrestrial, but they aren’t tortoises). It’s a large tortoise — up to 15 inches in length, which makes it easy to observe and interesting, too.

In the longleaf pine forest and our ecosystem, the gopher tortoise is a keystone species. A keystone species is any species that is important to its ecosystem, either because it supports biodiversity, or because it controls numbers of other species that might otherwise overwhelm the system.

In the case of the gopher tortoise, the fact that it digs a heck of a burrow — Its burrow can be 45 feet long — is a big part of what makes it a keystone species. That’s because hundreds of other species can use its burrow as a shelter. Some say more than 350 species use its burrow. Species such as the endangered indigo snake, eastern diamondback rattlesnakes, gopher frogs and burrowing owls take shelter in its burrow.

Gopher tortoises are also great for plants. They eat plants and then disperse seeds by pooping them out. In this way, they contribute to the biodiversity of plant species throughout the forest.

This area is ideal for the gopher tortoise because it thrives in sandy soils that drain well, and needs an open forest canopy. Controlled burns conducted by the City of Foley in Graham Creek Nature Preserve help keep the understory just the way a gopher tortoise likes it.

You can observe gopher tortoises in the open area just northeast of the kayak launch at Graham Creek.