With more than 900 people a day moving to Florida, developers and builders are scrambling for prime building land, ground that is likely already inhabited by a state native, the Gopher tortoise. This burrowing turtled is a threatened species that likes flat pine woodlands and well-drained sandy soil. Unfortunately, for the Gopher tortoise, it is the same terrain that developers love.  The dry, flat terrain makes access for heavy equipment easier and allows for less problematic land excavation in order to build homes and stores. To mitigate the effects of developers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for ground, wildlife officials are seeking landowners to do their part for the environment and open up their properties to house “tortoise refugees.” Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) describes Gopher tortoises as burrowing herbivores whose dwellings provide homes and shelter for more than 350 animals and insects. Some of the symbiotic species are themselves “threatened.” The …