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Gopher tortoises evicted from their homes by development may find new homes on county land.

Lee County commissioners gave direction to its staff Monday to look into the possibility of relocating more of the threatened species from private land to public land.

The concept would involve developers paying a fee to the county to accept the tortoises after all other options have been exhausted. The fee, which could be upwards of $5,000 per tortoise, would pay for the maintenance of the land.

County staff will look into all lands that would be acceptable habitat for gopher tortoises, including, county-owned land, Conservation 2020 preservation land and Department of Environmental Protection land, said Roger Clark, a biologist for the county.

First, however, leaders will have to determine if the county can legally use Conservation 2020 land for mitigation of gopher tortoises. The problem, said George Wheaton, a member of the committee that oversees the Conservation 2020 program, is the land was purchased by and belongs to taxpayers.

“The idea is the land belongs to the citizens of Lee County,” Wheaton said. “It was bought with their tax money. It was not bought for private mitigation.”

Without the option of using county lands, developers would have to pay to relocate the tortoises somewhere else. That could send thousands of gopher tortoises to other areas of the state. The reptiles are important native species because they dig burrows, which provide habitat for more than 300 other species.

Lee County has already worked with developers to relocate tortoises to other county owned land on Pine Island and in northeast Lee County.

But that land is quickly running out, Clark said.

The county could allow the relocation of the tortoises onto land the county already owns, commissioner Frank Mann said. But purchasing new land to relocate gopher tortoises on is out of the question, especially given the current budget situation, he said.

“We’ve had people in front of us in recent weeks telling us we cant afford to send a handicapped person to get dialysis. Now we’re talking about spending millions of dollars on gopher tortoises,” Mann said. “Whatever we do needs to be sustaining itself with cost.”

Lee County Commissioner Brian Bigelow said if it’s legal, he doesn’t have a problem with relocating tortoises to Conservation 2020 land.

It would be the cheapest option for the county and the tortoises wouldn’t know the difference.

“As we speak, there is probably a gopher (tortoise) moving from private land to public (Conservation) 2020 land,” he said.

Many developers can relocate displaced gopher tortoises on preserve portions of their development sites.

The county program should only be available for developers who have exhausted every other option, including private mitigation banks, said commissioner Tammy Hall.

“I don’t want to go head to head competition with private mitigation banks,” Hall said.