By Laura Figueroa
Miami Herald
03/07/08

TALLAHASSEE -- Just when you thought a sluggish economy and the state's budget woes would delay progress on milestone legislation this year, one bill is rapidly gaining support among Florida lawmakers.

Adding to the list of 37 official state symbols like the state soil -- Myakka fine sand -- Sen. Burt Saunders, a Naples Republican, is pushing for the designation of an official state tortoise.

''If we can add Key lime pie as one of our symbols, then I really think we can make room for the gopher tortoise on the list,'' said Ricky Pires, an environmental studies professor at Florida Gulf Coast University who is pushing for the official designation.

Pires encouraged elementary students in Collier County to write to Saunders urging him to add gopher tortoises to the list of state symbols.

The reptiles, known to live along the state's southeastern coast and the Panhandle, are classified as a threatened species in Florida. Still, landing on the list does not offer much in protective status or special funding.

Saunders said educating the public is half the battle to protecting the reptiles.

''People need to be more aware that this is a tortoise that has been under assault by development in their natural habitat,'' Saunders said. ``Perhaps by designating it an official state symbol, it will bring more awareness. It will be analogous to the symbol of the Florida manatee.''

Saunders' measure to add the tortoise as a symbol received unanimous support from the Senate Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation on Thursday, but not without some points of clarification from his colleagues.

''Representing the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast area, I want to say a word about the sea turtle,'' joked Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from Fort Walton Beach. ``If this bill in no way denigrates the integrity and value of sea turtles, then I will support it.''


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