Refinement of Gopher Tortoise Habitat Identification and Related Land Cover Data. The benefits of this project include: 1) much improved gopher tortoise remote habitat identification that could have a strong influence on potential listing status (with the likelihood that significantly more habitat may be identified); 2) better statewide land cover data regarding scrubby flatwoods and potentially refined mesic flatwoods and dry prairie classifications; and 3) potential spin off benefits regarding better habitat identification for related species such as gopher frogs and other xeric adapted species that might be found in on drier flatwoods and dry prairie sites.
Continuation of Water Restoration Analyses. Considerable water restoration analyses have been conducted and are underway as part of earlier iterations of CLIP. The goal of this work is to build on earlier work, continuing to build a multi-faceted database of water restoration priorities. For this next phase, the goal would be to conduct a landscape analysis to look for opportunities to plan for water and wildlife habitat conservation together. I.e., assess and identify potential land areas where new surface water storage projects can complement wildlife habitat conservation planning. Land areas can be private agricultural lands or public holdings that would benefit from hydrological restoration, as part of a larger watershed conservation/restoration scheme.